What is the passage's central argument?

Scrolling trains shallow attention, but deliberate reading can rebuild deep focus. (The passage contrasts the skim-and-react habit feeds create with the sustained focus reading builds, and ends on the hopeful note that the "muscle responds.")

Why does the author compare difficult reading to a "workout"?

Because focus is a trainable capacity that strengthens with effortful practice (The author frames sustained attention as a "muscle" that "weakens without practice" but "responds" to training, a workout metaphor for a trainable skill.)

"Atrophy," as used in the passage, most nearly means:

waste away from disuse (The feeds "let atrophy" the focus muscles, i.e., let them weaken or waste away from lack of use.)

The Cost of a Scrolling Mind: Level 3 Reading Comprehension Questions

Q: According to the passage, how do feed designers measure success?

In seconds of attention captured (The passage states it directly: "The designers measure success in seconds of attention captured," which is why each post is short, vivid, and quickly replaced.)

Every feed you scroll is engineered to interrupt you. The designers measure success in seconds of attention captured, so each post is short, vivid, and quickly replaced by the next. Over time this trains a particular habit of mind: skim, react, move on.

The trouble is that deep understanding works the opposite way. To follow a long argument, hold several ideas at once, or notice what an author implies but never states, the mind must stay still and sustain effort across paragraphs. That stamina is a skill, and like any skill it weakens without practice. Reading a difficult page slowly is not nostalgia for an older medium; it is a workout for the exact muscles that feeds quietly let atrophy.

The encouraging part is that the muscle responds. People who read demanding material a little each day report that focus returns, often within weeks.

Comprehension questions