I wanted to point out that in the most recent post on his Substack James Marriott covers a lot of the same territory I have over the years here on the cognitive, social, and political implications of the abandoning of reading. I’ve categorized it as “Visualcy”. He refers to it as “post-literacy”. He cites many of the same sources I have for the last 25 years on the subject. Highly recommended.
If you don’t like the vapid, agonistic, and all-too-frequently pointless character of our present politics, a lot of what we’re seeing can be explained by the cognitive and behavioral impact of not reading.
I think you’ve been way ahead of the curve on this.
And I think a lot of the “reading” that’s taking place is on social media, which just adds to the problem.
I started writing about this before smartphones were “a thing”.
One factor may be because I’m what’s called an “early adopter” as was my father before me. I’ve had a computer in my home for 50 years. I’ve had a home network for 35 years, a wireless home network with Internet connectivity for 30 years.
Opinions vary. Socrates on the written word:
Of course, we don’t know this about Socrates from Socrates—because he didn’t write it down! Fortunately, his student, Plato, did happen to write it down. Those young whippersnappers and their ink!
People have been writing about this since shortly after TV came along. It gave us the all time great movie Idiocracy 20 years ago. I think it has changed us but I dont think the way we read alone has made us stupid as I think some of this was inevitable. We used to have 3 TV channels. Kids read more books but there were fewer available so a lot of the books they read were the same. I think we now have a lot more variety than we have ever had. With all of the extra options many people were not going to read books as their primary entertainment option.
Still, I think it was more the combination of the new forms of media plus the hard, deliberate work of many groups to take advantage of these new ways of communicating that helped turn people stupid. As the article notes people were just as or more susceptible to stupid conspiracy thinking in the past, it just happens faster now.
I do wonder if it’s a self-reinforcing circle thing. I read 3-5 books per week now that I am retired, though I mostly do it on Kindle since it’s cheaper. I think it has become harder to find good new stuff to read. Still tons of good history to read though so I will never run out. I will admit that when reading non-fiction I often find that the author would have benefitted from a good editor and could have made their point(s) in half as many pages.
Steve
Homer and other poets could recite entire epics learning from other oral historians. Socrates thought writing weakened the mind.
For centuries, it was thought learning the written word was something only a few would be able to master. With the advent of the printing press, the quality of calligraphy declined precipitously. More people could read, but only a few books were available, including the Bible of course. People could share and recite entire passages from this shared inheritance, knowing that their audience would realize that “a house divided against itself cannot stand” comes from the Gospel of Mark. Later, even an ordinary person might have so many books that they might pull one down from the shelf and not remember if they had read it. While hardly anyone learns Latin, much less Greek.
Meanwhile, people decry the lack of traditional grammar in texting and all the new figures of speech, while rap lyrics go by so quickly it’s a wonder anyone can understand the words, even as the kids go through the school hallways reciting poetry—much like Homer.
Moderation help please. (Forgot the “Two Link Rule”.)
Homer and other poets could recite entire epics. Socrates thought writing weakened the mind.
For centuries, it was thought learning the written word was something only a few would be able to master. With the advent of the printing press, the quality of calligraphy declined. More people could read, but only a few books were available, including the Bible of course. People could share and recite entire passages knowing that their audience would realize that “a house divided against itself cannot stand” comes from the Gospel of Mark. Later, even an ordinary person could have so many books that they might pull one down from the shelf and not remember if they had read it.
…
Meanwhile, people decry the lack of traditional grammar in texting and all the new figures of speech, and rap lyrics go by so quickly, it’s a wonder anyone can understand the words, even as the kids go through the school hallways reciting poetry—like Homer.