Types

• Types of reading online can range from browsing your favorite blogs to catching up on the news to reading novels on the Web. There's lots of material to read for free online about nearly any subject you're interested in. Blog topics range from food to politics. Hundreds of sites, from slate.com to fox.com, provide news and analysis of current events. And a variety of sites provide free novels or non-fiction books to read online. For instance, you can read entire novels online at Project Gutenberg (gutenberg.org) or get small selections of novels or stories emailed to you daily via dailylit.com.
  
  

Misconceptions

• Your mother may have told you not to sit too close to the TV or computer screen because you'll ruin your eyes. Largely, this is an old wives tale. While it's true that you can tire your eyes out and cause eye strain, most doctors agree that it won't actually make your vision worse long-term.
  
  

Prevention/Solution

• Taking frequent breaks is the best way to prevent eye strain while reading online. Sitting too close to the monitor or improperly aimed lights that cause a glare can strain your eyes. Also, when you get involved in what you're reading, you tend to hold the same posture for a long time. This can also cause tension in the neck and shoulders. To prevent tension and strain, make sure you look away from the monitor every 30 to 60 minutes at minimum. Look up and down and side to side, or stand up and do neck and shoulder rolls for a minute. If you read online all day for your job and the lighting conditions aren't good, you can purchase a glare guard for your monitor.
  
  

Potential

• Reading online actually has the potential to make you a faster reader in general, both online and off-line. Programs like ZAP reader (zapreader.com) let you input text and train yourself to gradually read faster and faster, up to 500 words per minute or even more quickly. The creators of ZAP reader claim that they can help you read faster without losing any comprehension.
  
  

Benefits

• In addition to the potential to read faster, reading online has other benefits. Reading online can help you keep up on current events, learn new skills even pick up a college level education for free. For instance, several sites allow you to read classic novels for free, and a variety of colleges and universities offer their lecture notes on topics from physics to zoology for free to the public.