During the last few weeks, my internet feeds have been inundated with links to Spritz, the new speed-reading application that lets you read a novel in less than 90 minutes.

According to Spritz, when people read they spend about 80% of the time moving their eyes from word to word but only 20% processing meaning. Their app makes reading more efficient because it shows only one word at a time in the middle of a screen, reducing the time taken up by eye movement. This means that even as words flash faster and faster, they can be read. And it definitely works. I can keep up with the Spritz sample that flashes at 500 words per minute.

In spite of being impressed with how quickly Spritz allows me to read, the problem this app is solving makes me uncomfortable. So much of what's valuable about reading isn't about simply processing words. At its core, reading is about exploration, thinking deeply and following your imagination.

In A Poetry Handbook, Mary Oliver writes: "Words have not only a definition …but also the felt quality of their own kind of sound." Hearing the words of a text in your head is a sensory part of the experience of reading. The people from Spritz call this subvocalisation, and suggest humming while reading to avoid it and increase speed. Increasing speed while technically being able to process words misses most of the point of why I read. It's like approaching a meal in a Michelin-starred restaurant in the same way you would approach a hotdog-eating contest and afterwards being pleased that you were able to keep it all down.

According to Spritz, everyone can use their technology except "babies, people who do not possess the ability to raise their eyelids, people who live in caves, people without digital devices of any kind, people who have had their digital devices taken away and been put in 'time out' by mom and dad, sleeping people, zombies, cartoon characters, scuba divers, people without heartbeats ... "

Given that there are over 770 million illiterate people in the world and over 19% of high school graduates in the US can't read, Spritz may be overstating it a bit. The real promise of Spritz is not that it's for everyone but that it appeals to a specific type of person who is trying to keep up with the frenetic speed of stuff available online. The promise of being able to download information more quickly is incredibly appealing.

There are lots of reasons I decide to read something: to understand or fill a gap in knowledge, for pure pleasure, or something in between. Even when I'm reading for utility, the cadence and voice of the writing informs how I feel about the subject matter. There are subtleties in writing that aren't answered by that 20% of time spent processing the meaning of a word.

A few nights ago, eyes heavy, I was up until 2am reading The Goldfinch by Donna Tartt. Not so I could say I'd finished it, but because like magic, those words built a story in my head that I couldn't abandon.

The 80% of time that people spend moving their eyes from word to word is valuable. It's where the work of thinking about and connecting to language happens. In the space of these moments we carve out room to laugh and room to cry. It's where we decide how deeply to care.

This thinking and dreaming is actually the most important part. It's what keeps us awake turning pages until 2am.

Amy Thibodeau is a writer and content strategist at Facebook. You can find her at facebook.com/amy.thibodeau