Reading Rate Flexibility & User Control

Reading rate flexibility does in fact enhance the hedonistic value of the ludic reader's experience. First, spontaneous rate variations -- lingering over the hero's arrival at police headquarters, racing through a beautiful sunset after the murder -- are likely to increase the reader's sense of internal control. Reading is after all the only mass media entertainment input that is wholly user-controlled, whereas the presentation pace of storytellers, audiotapes, and movies is controlled by the producer of the material.

Nell, p.100

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