Halifax, NS– Jesse Reams, a second year biology student is swamped in biology pre-requisite courses. Growing up, she found biology in school fascinating, having a particular interest in nature documentaries – which were often narrated by David Attenborough, the infamous voice to Blue Planet, Planet Earth, and Natural World. After being so influenced by these documentaries, with all of the readings and assignments to complete, Reams is finding it is taking longer than expected – she has been reading everything with Attenborough’s voice. Reams has found she can only process written information at half the rate that the rest of her classes can. She is unable to read without long pauses, dramatic phrasing, or a british accent.
Reams is looking into audio-books and videos to learn the same material being delivered through the textbooks, but those are also narrated and read by Attenborough. Reams is not alone though, as there is an ever-growing support group online for other students struggling with the same issue. Jamie Sean, a third year student, who survived the heavy load of biology courses the previous year, had some advice on how to change the settings of your internal monologue.
“You have to change your audio settings to 2.0 speed for your internal dialogue to move at a regular pace, and that is where you can change the voice settings as well. I changed the British accent to an Australian one, and that’s been good mate.”
Reams claims it may not be easy, but she will complete her readings on time. “It’s a slight problem, but… with time… I can… overcome it.”
By Katelyn Spurr