Despite its essential role in our lives and agency as citizens, many of us consume journalistic works minimally or inefficiently. In particular, study after study in the past decade have shown that 40 to 80 percent of would-be readers only actually consider headlines before sharing posts or moving on. This week, we consider the effects of doing so and the danger posed by "headline culture". How do consumers influence the headlines that journalists will craft and consequently inform consumer perspectives? Where does the attribute of being "well-read" come into play? How can we more deeply and meaningfully consume carefully-crafted and well-researched journalism?

Further Reading:

The Washington Post, "6 in 10 of you will share this link without reading it, a new, depressing study says"

Forbes, "59 Percent Of You Will Share This Article Without Even Reading It"

Slate, "You Won’t Finish This Article"

The Huffington Post, "People Only Read Headlines Anyway"

Affinity, "Stop Only Reading Headlines And Actually Read The Article"

Gawker, "NPR Pulled a Brilliant April Fools' Prank On People Who Don't Read"

The Washington Post, "Americans read headlines. And not much else."

Patheos, "Most People Only Read Headline Before Sharing"

The Science Post, "Study: 70% of Facebook users only read the headline of science stories before commenting"