when you quickly look through the television guide/program schedule to watch something, you are

When you quickly look through the television guide to find something to watch, you are using a reading technique known as "scanning." Scanning is a method of quickly searching a text to locate specific information, such as program titles, times, or genres, without reading every detail or the entire guide intensively. This differs from skimming, which is more about getting the general idea or gist of the text, and from intensive reading, which is careful and detailed. Scanning helps efficiently find relevant information like show times or names by moving the eyes rapidly across the text until the desired info is found.