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It seems that the age of reading might be a short anomaly in human history

theatlantic.com

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Re: It seems that the age of reading might be a short anomaly in human history

#61

Post by nozzlegear »

areoform wrote: post #55
vlucas wrote: post #50

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> Even cinema is dying and nobody seems to care that much. Cinema is dying from mostly self-inflicted wounds though. They keep making movies (or re-making movies ) with bad writing, bad stories, and unrealistic character development arcs that not many people want to watch. Good movies have been rewarded in theatres. Top Gun: Maverick, Obsession, Project Hail Mary, etc. all had great box office sales when other movies…

Top Gun: Maverick, Obsession, Project Hail Mary Those movies might be good, but cinema are they not. Cinema traditionally has meant movies like, À bout de souffle and Citizen Kane.

No True Cinephile would enjoy a movie like Top Gun: Maverick, Obsession or Project Hail Mary.

/s

Re: It seems that the age of reading might be a short anomaly in human history

#62

Post by palmotea »

lapcat wrote: post #33
lp4v4n wrote: post #23

It's been my impression that classic literature is going the same way as painting and other forms of high art. It was certainly a great display of human intellectual prowess and artistic capacity in bygone times when the world moved at a much slower pace, but who has the time and the energy to read a long novel today? Even cinema is dying and nobody seems to care that much.

> who has the time and the energy to read a long novel today? Anyone who has the time and energy to spend on YouTube, TikTok, Facebook, Instagram, Twitter/X, or for that matter, anyone who has the time and energy to spend watching TV.

>> who has the time and the energy to read a long novel today?

> Anyone who has the time and energy to spend on YouTube, TikTok, Facebook, Instagram, Twitter/X, or for that matter, anyone who has the time and energy to spend watching TV.

Most of those are passive entertainments, suitable for people who've been drained of the energy to do anything else.

Re: It seems that the age of reading might be a short anomaly in human history

#63

Post by deadbabe »

flenserboy wrote: post #38
smith7018 wrote: post #25

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Many people still read novels. I live in NYC and see numerous people read books and Kindles every day on the train. > Even cinema is dying and nobody seems to care that much It's being replaced with an even longer form of visual media; the mini series. Stories that used to be told in an hour and a half are now being told in 8 hour-long segments

which could, for the most part, be boiled down to 2 hour-long segments. so much is stretched out for the sake of padding. the good news is that scrubbing through shows is possible — it is usually painfully clear when to stop & watch at double speed — & time otherwise lost is recovered in this way.

Not really.

Movies are good for plot oriented stories, with clear beginning, middle, and end.

But they are not ideal for more character driven or lore oriented content.

Long slow burning stories told over many episodes let you really show many facets of characters and also opportunities to hint at a much larger world than what can be shown within 2 hours.

Re: It seems that the age of reading might be a short anomaly in human history

#64

Post by invalidusernam3 »

lp4v4n wrote: post #23

It's been my impression that classic literature is going the same way as painting and other forms of high art. It was certainly a great display of human intellectual prowess and artistic capacity in bygone times when the world moved at a much slower pace, but who has the time and the energy to read a long novel today? Even cinema is dying and nobody seems to care that much.

I think it's mostly due to mobile phones. Most people seem to spend a substantial amount of their free time staring at their phone screen rather than engaging with books or other forms of entertainment. Phones being bite sized entertainment orientated is probably changing the way people feel about longer forms.

Re: It seems that the age of reading might be a short anomaly in human history

#65

Post by sanmarzano »

quasiperfectus wrote: post #30

> Gambling has become a more common leisure activity than reading a book I feel like if it took me 20hr to place a bet I'm probably not doing much of that either. Anecdotal, but my 7y/o loves reading. She's flying through series' and it's getting pricey. I guess she falls in the 16% of people who enjoy it.

It does. People who bet on sports sink hundreds of hours into forums and consuming visual content. Placing a bet takes 30 seconds, deciding what to bet on takes people a very long time. As long as reading a book.

Re: It seems that the age of reading might be a short anomaly in human history

#67

Post by breezybottom »

lp4v4n wrote: post #23

It's been my impression that classic literature is going the same way as painting and other forms of high art. It was certainly a great display of human intellectual prowess and artistic capacity in bygone times when the world moved at a much slower pace, but who has the time and the energy to read a long novel today? Even cinema is dying and nobody seems to care that much.

Cinema is dying? Hollywood is on track to have its best year since 2019. Where do people come up with this stuff?

Re: It seems that the age of reading might be a short anomaly in human history

#68

Post by nozzlegear »

palmotea wrote: post #59
lp4v4n wrote: post #23

It's been my impression that classic literature is going the same way as painting and other forms of high art. It was certainly a great display of human intellectual prowess and artistic capacity in bygone times when the world moved at a much slower pace, but who has the time and the energy to read a long novel today? Even cinema is dying and nobody seems to care that much.

> bygone times when the world moved at a much slower pace, but who has the time and the energy to read a long novel today? Capitalism is "fixing the glitch" of workers having space energy. I hope soon we'll achieve the ideal bimodal distribution of labor: work intensified to the point where workers that have the energy for nothing but work, and the impoverished totally unemployed that we can just corral and forget ab…

How does this viewpoint account for the times when "capitalism" was, by all objective measures, worse for laborers? I.E. the early industrialization period when laborers worked 14-16 hour days alongside children in factories and mines, risking life and limb?

Re: It seems that the age of reading might be a short anomaly in human history

#69

Post by lapcat »

palmotea wrote: post #62
lapcat wrote: post #33

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> who has the time and the energy to read a long novel today? Anyone who has the time and energy to spend on YouTube, TikTok, Facebook, Instagram, Twitter/X, or for that matter, anyone who has the time and energy to spend watching TV.

>> who has the time and the energy to read a long novel today? > Anyone who has the time and energy to spend on YouTube, TikTok, Facebook, Instagram, Twitter/X, or for that matter, anyone who has the time and energy to spend watching TV. Most of those are passive entertainments, suitable for people who've been drained of the energy to do anything else.

I read while lying on the couch, my head resting on a pillow. Is that not passive enough?

Re: It seems that the age of reading might be a short anomaly in human history

#70

Post by DeluluDon »

apparent wrote: post #53
quasiperfectus wrote: post #30

> Gambling has become a more common leisure activity than reading a book I feel like if it took me 20hr to place a bet I'm probably not doing much of that either. Anecdotal, but my 7y/o loves reading. She's flying through series' and it's getting pricey. I guess she falls in the 16% of people who enjoy it.

Same with my girls (parents of boys seem to mostly have a different experience). Hopefully your kid gets access to digital libraries like Epic or Sora at school. There are also public libraries with ebook lending that can make the habit cheaper.

My mother taught me how to read, I'm male. Incidentally, I scored higher than my peers in reading.

I still read, but it has taken the form of social media which have no more length than a blurb.

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