Instinctively, reading the texts on the left, feels much slower than comprehending the image on the right.
But why? And by how much?
So I dug into some rough numbers😅
- Texts:
- Let's assume the English reading speed is 5 words per second, or 300 words per minute, to be optimistic.
- Assume on average, each word contains 5 characters, and each character accounts for 8 bits in ASCII encoding, which leads to 40 bits per word.
- That gives us the text reading bandwidth of 200 bits per second.
- Images:
- This research paper, "Calculating the speed of sight", estimates that "the human retina can transmit data at roughly 10 million bits per second", or 20 megabits per second for two eyes.
- So reading texts can be 100,000 times slower than comprehending visuals.
- I guess that texts get us stuck in serial language decoding, whereas images allow parallel holistic appreciation.
Bottomline: Either 100,000, or 1,000, or 100 times, the exact number is only a rough estimate, but they lead to the same recommended practice: use images, videos and 3D models to significantly speed up communication🚀
