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Why can’t we read anymore?

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Re: Why can’t we read anymore?

#51

Post by klibertp »

plaguuuuuu wrote: post #42
jasode wrote: post #2

I've read over 500 fiction books and 2000+ non-fiction. I've read many of the big thick classics like Moby Dick, War & Peace, Infinite Jest. I've kept a spreadsheet of all the books I've read somewhat like Art Garfunkel[1] (of Simon & Garfunkel music duo). I've also read Nick Carr's "The Shallows"[2] and other authors about about the web's effect on attention span, distractions, etc. With all that said, I'm not convi…

It depends. People used to read 500 page books on compilers. Would you read an equivalently long blog article on compilers? With the Internet we've gained the ability to more readily acquire knowledge in little bits at a time, over a lot of areas. But most of us are incapable of reading a really huge article in depth. And thus we get more shallow levels of understanding, but across a wider range of topics. This expla…

> But most of us are incapable of reading a really huge article in depth

It's not a "capability", it's a skill. The problem is it's becoming less and less important in everyday life for most people, which in turn makes them abandon its training. As with most skills, without training you become worse at it with time.

I'm not sure if that's good or bad thing that you can now learn without having mastered this skill. Is the understanding you gain via lots of small chunks of knowledge worse than the one you get from reading The Dragon Book? I don't know; looks like a good topic for research in cognitive science.

Personally I do like reading long and involved texts, but I too learned to enjoy it before the Internet became popular. I don't know if I'd be equally interested in such texts had I started just a few years later.

Re: Why can’t we read anymore?

#52

Post by alexashka »

eskimo87 wrote: post #48

I couldn't even finish reading this long article. Just a para or two, after that simply skimmed through till end. :-(

Meh, I think it's fine.

What is he/she really saying?

There's a thousand and one problems one could be solving in his/her life. Checking twitter/facebook less often and reading words printed on paper is priority number 356 for me. I don't know why it ranks so high for the author to warrant a blog post.

The real issue is not having your priorities straight that you are worrying about your allocation of time/resources. Surely there's bigger fish to fry in your own life - where's the blog post on that?

Re: Why can’t we read anymore?

#54

Post by delinka »

Why I don't read non-technical things very often:

I have "better" (to me) things to do. I want to read about boost. I want to study LLVM. I want to write code. I want to set up a Linux server running node.js. I want to compare some NoSQL datastores to an RDBMS or two.

When I want distraction or to rest my brain, I'll take entertainment in short spans. I really don't want to invest weeks of two-hour nights reading a work of fiction. I'm not terribly interested in reading someone's biography. And unless a non-fiction topic is currently meaningful to me (for example, books about the human mind when I was in my early 20s), then I'm not likely to Just Read.

I feel like if I Just Read for reading's sake, I'm not honing the craft that's important to me. I feel like it makes me a "jack of all trades" and therefore "master of none."

Re: Why can’t we read anymore?

#55

Post by eellpp »

borgchick wrote: post #15

I'm honestly a little surprised at some of the comments here. I thought most people on here would agree that many of us do suffer from this. I mean, how many of you actually read through the entire article, WITHOUT checking your email, or flipping to twitter/fb to tell the world about this good article you just found? I had to really force myself to read the entire article first, and not give in to that urge to get a…

> I had to really force myself to read the entire article first, and not give in to that urge to get a hit of dopamine.

It's actually reverse for many of us who like to read. If i read an interesting article, i just cannot get over it. The stimulation from this is so strong, that its difficult to concentrate on anything else. Mostly after the first read, i will think for a while on it and then re-read it again. More slowly this time. I keep the tab open and will come back again to re-read. Sometimes the thought provoked by the articles lingers for days and i have to write it down somewhere where to get over it.

Re: Why can’t we read anymore?

#56

Post by sukilot »

noir_lord wrote: post #45
jader201 wrote: post #44

Earlier quoted context omitted.

"I'll have to continually go back and re-read what I feel like I've just read." This is me. "and how I image most people read most of the time." I wish I knew if this were true. I've always felt that I have some sort of "disorder" or some form of ADHD or something that causes my mind to wander anytime I try to read a book. I'm a terribly slow reader for this reason (at least when it comes to books -- internet article…

Not for me, when I read I get lost in the book and it gets dark outside, the cats come and sleep on me, the street lights go on and I look up at 10pm and I've read half a novel. It's a sense of peace I get from few other things in life.

This, or even watching a slow paced movie (the kind more common before 1990) is incredibly refreshing break from the modern distraction filled world.

Re: Why can’t we read anymore?

#57

Post by brownbat »

I read maybe one book in the last half of 2014. I wasn't proud of this number. Then I took a trip with only a kindle, no hotspots.

I read nine books in two weeks.

I felt so energized and accomplished. I vowed to keep it up when I returned to a world with internet.

I have not.

An Internet fast is an interesting experience. People might drop off the grid for backpacking trips, or trips to monasteries... I think it's legitimate to drop off and take anything you think might be your hobby but for internet. Take books, like I did, or maybe a typewriter. Or a musical instrument. Canvases and paint. A sharp knife and some pieces of wood. Yarn. Give your mind some idle stretches, a few days without constant distraction. See what happens, you'll probably be amazed.

Re: Why can’t we read anymore?

#58

Post by officemonkey »

It's a skill. But unlike riding a bike, if you don't use it, you lose it. On the other hand, if you practice, it gets better.

I started keeping track of my reading in 2011. Here's my history:

    2011: 11 books     
    2012: 16 books     
    2013: 29 books     
    2014: 54 books     
    2015: 26 books (to date)
I did this while not significantly changing my lifestyle. How?

    1. I read to and from work. 45 min each way.   
    2. I read at lunch. 1 hr.  
    3. I chose reading instead of watching TV or playing video games.   
    4. I use eReaders, so I have dozens of books to read next.  
    5. I log my reading (obsessively?) on goodreads.com.
One thing I didn't do: I don't even try to read before bed. If I'm lucky, I get three pages read and then I'm nodding off.

"Why can't we read anymore?" I dunno. Maybe because _you_ aren't reading anymore.

Re: Why can’t we read anymore?

#60

Post by arihant »

Hard to see problem with this behavior. It is the same reason we don't ride horses to work anymore - better stuff available.

We didn't read at all, then we read leaves, then we read scrolls, then we read books, now we read the internet. Books have been around for extremely small percentage of our species' span. Moreover before the internet, the general public showed more interest in reading up more current affairs/entertainment than traditional books. Newspapers and magazine numbers are still strong.

Frankly, I would rather have a race of people reading up on general knowledge and keep themselves aware than a race of people wasting time trying to read story books just to fit in. It is not that the books have been replaced. Better stuff has brutally shown that books were truly appealing to only a few. If, given chance, most people flea, it is a failed product.

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