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Reading in the Age of Constant Distraction

theparisreview.org

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Re: Reading in the Age of Constant Distraction

#111

Post by jamil7 »

vinceguidry wrote: post #104
everythingswan wrote: post #10

I've come to love books intensely. Not only because I enjoy learning--before I read books, I found blogs to be great educators. I love books because they create time and space to be alone with a thought. It gives me time to consider things that I normally have no space for. I remember Seth Godin saying once that every business book can be summarized in just a few pages but the book itself is a story. I think it goes…

What I want out of books is to be able to work them into a sequential feed workflow. I don't think it's likely to happen without hacks in my lifetime due to DRM. But it would be great to get chapters of books woven in between long and short form textual content whose sources are personally curated. If someone thinks they can either work out a deal with Amazon or otherwise get around the DRM issue in a commercial prod…

I really like this idea and it overlaps slightly with my side project. I'd love to give it a try even if it's just with DRM free content initially.

Re: Reading in the Age of Constant Distraction

#112

Post by LandR »

The thing I find is hardest about sitting and reading a book is the quietness and being essentially alone with my own thoughts.

If I'm sitting watch a film / netflix etc, there is noise and that seems to distract my brain from going to dark places.

It's like I'll be reading a page and then by the end of the page I've taken nothing in and my brain is forcing me to think about stuff I don't want to think about. Intrusive thoughts like you suck as a person,you're fat, you're ugly, why do your friends like you? You suck at your job etc.

I think this is the same reason why I struggle to sleep, just being alone with my thoughts trying to sleep ends up putting me in a bad place.

It sucks because I used to love reading.

Re: Reading in the Age of Constant Distraction

#113

Post by whatusername »

criddell wrote: post #73
chki wrote: post #51

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I've recently been shown a lot of ads for a service called "blinkist" where the idea is to provide short summaries of non-fiction books and I think your comment captures why that is a very bad idea. Reading and capturing an idea takes time; it can't be properly substituted by a few minutes of "listening to crucial insights from leading thinkers while you’re on the go." Their business model is in a way the complete op…

I don't think fiction can be shrunk down, but I think lots of non-fiction books can. I'm thinking specifically of some books that I've read in the past couple of years that include: * Deep Work * Influence * Thinking Fast and Slow * Predictably Irrational * Getting Things Done * How to Win Friends and Influence People I think all of these books suffer from the common pattern of present an idea then a bunch of example…

I agree completely about non-fiction books.

There are certainly some fiction books that could use some shrinking down (For Exhibit A: Crossroads of Twilight -- book 10 of the Wheel of Time)

Re: Reading in the Age of Constant Distraction

#114

Post by vinceguidry »

jamil7 wrote: post #111
vinceguidry wrote: post #104

Earlier quoted context omitted.

What I want out of books is to be able to work them into a sequential feed workflow. I don't think it's likely to happen without hacks in my lifetime due to DRM. But it would be great to get chapters of books woven in between long and short form textual content whose sources are personally curated. If someone thinks they can either work out a deal with Amazon or otherwise get around the DRM issue in a commercial prod…

I really like this idea and it overlaps slightly with my side project. I'd love to give it a try even if it's just with DRM free content initially.

Sadly, it doesn't even slightly interest me if I can't insert anything I have on my pile into the feed. It's an all-or-nothing thing. When I get interested enough, I'll probably do something really hacky.

Re: Reading in the Age of Constant Distraction

#115

Post by TuringTest »

rgifford wrote: post #81
krishna2 wrote: post #52

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I liked the way Ray Bradbury writes about this in Fahrenheit 451. When you read books, you have time to think about it, re-read it and question it. Whereas while watching video, things move so fast that the decision is made up for you.

> I liked the way Ray Bradbury writes about this in Fahrenheit 451. When you read books, you have time to think about it, re-read it and question it. Whereas while watching video, things move so fast that the decision is made up for you. You can literally watch a video at any pace you want. I don't get romanticism around books and I can't help but eye roll when someone a) gushes about reading or b) waxes poetic about…

> You can literally watch a video at any pace you want.

True in a literal sense, but irrelevant.

In order to change the pace a video, you need to actively interact with the video player; it's hard or impossible to get into a state of flow[1] if you need to constantly press buttons to pause, skip or replay parts of the video, change its speed, or find the specific second you want to analyze.

This affects the depth of reasoning about the concepts you're getting from the media. In a written text, you can naturally pause and reflect upon a paragraph, or re-read recent paragraphs only by moving the eyes up, slowing down at particularly difficult or interesting sections.

This state of mind of "intense mental concentration" when reading is a good basis for learning and reflection, and can be combined a more powerful range of options when reading; with video you can also get into that state, but then the video moves forward uniformly, and the pace at which you're confronted with the concepts is defined by the media, not your mental processes.

[1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Flow_(psychology)

Re: Reading in the Age of Constant Distraction

#116

Post by r_c_a_d »

CharlesMerriam2 wrote: post #75

As I read this story, some moving advertisements start along the top and sides. After ten seconds, a floating bar covers the text. After a few more, a modal dialog. Then the 'share me now' buttons, obscuring the text. Then I leave. Too few websites offer an experience for someone to read the content, and so we will see "Reading Online Content in the Age of Constant Distraction" in HackerNews.

Yes, I wasn't sure if the distractions were there to prove a point or if it was just ironic that the site was bombarding its own article with distractions.

Re: Reading in the Age of Constant Distraction

#117

Post by vinceguidry »

Emma_Goldman wrote: post #107
vinceguidry wrote: post #104

Earlier quoted context omitted.

What I want out of books is to be able to work them into a sequential feed workflow. I don't think it's likely to happen without hacks in my lifetime due to DRM. But it would be great to get chapters of books woven in between long and short form textual content whose sources are personally curated. If someone thinks they can either work out a deal with Amazon or otherwise get around the DRM issue in a commercial prod…

I have no idea what anything you wrote means. Can you explain in everyday language, assuming I'm your grandma? Why do you want to slice chapters from separate books together and insert 'textual content' inbetween them?

Books, sliced by chapter, in an RSS feed reader.

So I can read, say, a NYT article, then chapter one of a book, then maybe a blog post, then chapter one of a different book, then a long-form article, then chapter two of the first book.

Re: Reading in the Age of Constant Distraction

#118

Post by corv »

LandR wrote: post #112

The thing I find is hardest about sitting and reading a book is the quietness and being essentially alone with my own thoughts. If I'm sitting watch a film / netflix etc, there is noise and that seems to distract my brain from going to dark places. It's like I'll be reading a page and then by the end of the page I've taken nothing in and my brain is forcing me to think about stuff I don't want to think about. Intrusi…

I know this,

You might want to try meditation, it let’s your brain dump these thoughts and then be more present.

Re: Reading in the Age of Constant Distraction

#119

Post by miki123211 »

I have different experiences with reading than most. When I'm reading and notifications come in, I ignore them as distractions, much like one would shake off and ignore an annoying fly. I don't know whether the fact that I'm usually listening rather than reading (I use a screenreader) makes any difference.

Re: Reading in the Age of Constant Distraction

#120

Post by entropy_ »

I definitely agree with most of the points in the article. I've always been an avid reader and I find that this has enriched my life and my ability to think and reason about the world around me.

However, I find that the dig at amazon and e-books is definitely unwarranted(Or at least overblown). As a denizen of the third world, Amazon and the Kindle have been a lifeline to me. It's pretty much impossible to find anything that isn't bestseller trash in bookstores where I live. The selection is limited only to what might sell to the largest possible audience/lowest common denominator. Being able to get books on demand, electronically and cheap has been the only way I've been able to keep up my reading habit in the face of tightening time and budget constraints(2 kids, a job, etc...)

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