The printing press changed the world, but that must be closely followed by increased literacy. Because prior to pretty much everyone being able to read, the only ones who could were the clergy, the scholars, and a few of the wealthy. That meant that while widespread distribution and dissemination of information was possible, it still had to pass through the filter of an "elite" first. Everyone else just had to trust the information they were fed.
I feel like we are heading back to those times.
While if we look at literacy rates over the last hundred or so years there has been massive improvements globally, over the last ten years, some of the most advanced countries have seen regression. There are a number of reasons for this but the main two are; kids spending time on digital media, and parents spending time on digital media. Parents are reading less to their children, and less for themselves too. And Children are getting their entertainment from screens also, with many not starting to read in any capacity until they get to school. It seems that for many parents, teaching how to swipe a screen is more important than teaching the alphabet.
So what this means is that we are heading back to becoming reliant on others for our information, and are less capable of critical thinking through what we are fed. And in a world where misinformation and disinformation are running rife, being able to critically think is vital to not end up being a gullible pawn in the agenda of someone else's game.
Reading is critical for this. Not only because it allows for wider sources, but perhaps more importantly, it develops a cluster of mental traits that build the imagination. The imagination is vital for critical thinking, because it develops for reading between the lines, finding unspoken connections, and building theoretical models and mental simulations to create understanding. Imagination is not just about creativity in the sense of artistic accomplishment, it is core to our ability to problem solve.
The mind's eye world we create for a fantasy novel to imagine a dragon, uses the same tools to design an engineering solution, or being able to tell the difference between implied and explicit context. For instance, a lot of autistic people are unable to understand metaphors and analogies well, and take what is said literally. They expect people to say what they mean, but if we include tone, body language, and unconscious messaging, people are saying what they mean - even when they are intentionally lying. Taking everything literally in any complex social environment, is rarely going to lead to understanding the actual situation.
But, while there is a spectrum of levels spread across every skillset, a lot of the skills that many are starting to miss, are learnable skills, that have just gone unpractised. Knowing about a skill, doesn't mean possessing a skill. Nor does believing that one already has the skill innately, because belief doesn't equal skill possession. I can believe I can fly - gravity does not.
Reading is not only a skill for gathering information, it is a skill that allows us to get exposure and practice to an infinite number of other skills, whilst also building part of the foundation required to onboard those skills. Yes, there are a lot of people who couldn't read and were successful, and many who could and weren't - but we have to look at the skills on average, for the average person, as well as what "success" might look like to an individual.
Is a social media influencer successful if they make a hundred thousand a month, but suicide 12 months later?
Reading for many is attached to the pleasure of collecting information, even if they aren't going to use it, or even if the information itself is valueless by itself, like a fiction novel. But, reading forces the brain to generate entirely new, personalised worlds where an individual can not only understand what they are reading, but can use that world to build upon and spark further development. It might be the inspiration to change some behaviours, or it might be the spark that gives a world changing idea, but whatever it is, that internal world of ours, plays a vital role.
We are prediction machines that think predominantly in pictures. We build models continuously that represent our understanding of our experience, as well as our understanding of what we have never experienced too. But like our body, our mental world requires training and development to be effective, which means ongoing repetitive training.
Reading is a mental training ground.
I read to my daughter nearly every night I put her to bed, and now she is reading the first couple paragraphs to me before I take over. She is doing this in English with me, but her Finnish reading skills are far better, partially because Finnish is a phonetic language so reading is much easier.
I can read Finnish well - and not understand anything.
But, my daughter also likes to listen to audiobooks, which is better than a TV, but not as good as reading in my opinion. The less we have to "do" in order to get the information, the less value the information has for us in terms of skill building. Building skills requires work and no matter what the skill, to be good at it requires consistent effort against increasing challenge.
The problem with most of the media people consume now is, that there is no challenge to get it, and once able to follow, very little thought need be put in to understand, because everything is provided. There is no hurdle to get over, no effort, and instead - it is just a passive process of collection.
It takes no skill to consume today.
There is no challenge and it has gotten to the point where people can't even be fed complex storylines, because they just can't follow along, and they don't have the patience to even try.
If a movie is too hard to understand, it is a bad movie.
But is that the case? Is quantum physics bad physics? Are the circuits in your screen bad also? Of course not, and some people are smart enough and interested enough to understand how these things work. But when the average person can't even be bothered to learn the skills necessary to understand relatively basic concepts, what does that mean for humanity?
Reliance.
As said, I believe we are becoming increasingly reliant because we keep giving up fundamental skills to various tools and service providers. Rather than improving ourselves by increasing our abilities, we are just letting other people do everything for us, and we are mostly getting dumber for it.
Reading is just one of the many skills we are foregoing in the name of convenience, but there are many, many more. Maths is failing too, as are our bodies, and our emotional control is rapidly returning to the reactive nature of animal instinct. We are reducing ourselves to the role of user, with no ability to be a provider of any kind.
We are underprovisioned.
Lacking the personal resources to absorb our experience, understand and evaluate it, and then translate what we think into action and effective communication to make a difference, means we are ineffective, and low-value. Soon, most of us will have nothing to trade except our attention as a user.
Many of us might already be at that point.
Taraz
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This is a topic that interests me greatly, and one that I think about a lot. Not because I have a child like you, but because even though I don't have children, I have three goddaughters. This gives me the opportunity to interact with the younger generations on this planet. I see the constant challenges they face. And I also notice how their parents view life, and what they strive to provide not only as role models, but as a lifestyle for their daughters. Clearly, one of my goddaughters is much more exposed to books, and although she is a girl who likes sports activities such as playing ball, roller hockey, and trampolines, she ended up developing a special taste for drawing.
She doesn't have a great taste for reading, but not because she hasn't been exposed to it. However, the reading she was exposed to made her develop an interest in other topics and opened up the world to her. Another goddaughter I have, whose parents are not as careful. Perhaps because of the type of jobs they have, they don't have the resilience to give her a little time, and they end up letting that time be replaced by time in front of a tablet, or even on some YouTube channel. Leaving her education in a much more liberal way... Which, in my view, will bring great challenges for her future intellectual development.
This Christmas was the first Christmas that I didn't give her clothes or a book. Her mother asked for a toy that is basically kinetic sand. I'm not sure if I'm explaining it well... But it ends up developing fine motor skills. The girl's psychologist advised her parents to do this... It seems that she suffers from a type of anxiety, where when she can't complete a task, she feels very frustrated and inferior to her peers. Could this have come from a life of easy consumerism, where not having to make much effort to consume or interact with the world led her to create a model in which nothing that requires a little more effort seems worthwhile?
This is an issue that concerns me, as I see it repeated in many children I come across every day. Are we creating a society in which true information will only be available to those who make an effort to seek it out? I agree with you, and I think this will be one of the major problems of the coming decades, and it will be accentuated with AI.
Parents play such a large role in the early development of kids, before their peers become the trend maker. That means that parents only have a short time to build the foundation for the future - and many deem themselves "too busy" to do it properly. But I don't think it is busyness for most, but rather that they have their own interests they want satisfied first. It takes time, effort, and a lot of learning to parent well I think. But mostly, it takes being present and sensitive enough to understand the child.
I also think that it creates an environment that lowers patience and resilience, as well as stunts emotional development. People keep looking for labels to explain that "this is the way they were born" but I don't think that is the case most of the time these days. Just more excuses so as not to take responsibility.
I think so. It is already happening in the sense that academic learning is decreasing, and more are "choosing" what they learn, which is ultimately not very much.
Yes, I totally agree with you. Now that I in my last years of my fourth decade of life, I see that parenthood is far more less likely to occur. Unfortunately. But when I was younger, just the thought of having to raise and teach a "little human being" scared me so much... All that responsibility, and the chance of missing out that task. Now I can understand, that is not like a faculty exam. It's a different "task". It relies much more in the way that we provide the example and to take all the effort to be present, like you said.
Regretfully I spend a good deal of time on the computer with the news on the TV in the background. I try to read and take in various view points from different outlets when I want to review a topic or current event. I try not to trust just one outlet.
Love to read and it is one of my favorite activities, especially early in the morning after I wake up and I am fresh and my mind is clear with no fog at all or very little. I will tell you that I suck at mathematics, and there will be no solving that with this old dog.
I used to do this a lot, but stopped about the time I started writing on Hive, though it was various random shows, not news. I realised I wasn't getting much value from what I was doing, so had to make a change.
I wish I could read. Since the stroke, it has been nearly impossible ass I am now missing that automatic imagination required. It takes a huge amount of effort to read or write, which is often why after writing, I can't answer comments straight away. I need some recovery.
Since most of my recreational reading is history and action fiction that would be an ass kicker. My issue is brain fog and attention span. I often find my thoughts wondering or clouded as I am reading and realize I haven't absorbed anything form the last 3-4 pages. LOL
It takes a great deal out of me as well to read and especially write (type). But I enjoy it. I am so in awe of you and the quality and length of posts you can put out everyday. YOu should be proud of yourself and what you can achieve even with your challenge.
I miss a good book. I used to read a lot of fantasy series, but I even enjoyed a few randoms that I was gifted. It was definitely a bit of escapism for me growing up. I was thinking that maybe I should give it another go and choose useful books, but only read a page or two at a time. Maybe the effort will be worth it.
Proud is not the right word perhaps, but I sometimes surprise myself that I do what I do, considering. It makes me think what I could have done with the rest of my life, had I been more consistent.
Yes, but don't we all ask ourselves that at some point. I could wonder what could have happened if I wouldn't have wasted away the last 3-4 or so years of my life until a few months ago. It does no good to look back on what could have been, just have to move forward.
I started to read more a few months ago, and not digital books, but real paper books. I can tell how worthy is reading. Sometimes I find some challenges at home and work, that in the past were so hard to solve. Now is easier to me. It's like if my brain was wiser, and is just for putting a little effort.
I'm planning to raise my children (or child) in an non-internet environment, and just use it when they need to learn more about some subject. They might be seen as the underdogs in their class, but that would be a lesson too.
Reading "real" books is better than digital, as there is a tactile attachment to it also. It makes our senses work a little harder again.
This is how I have seen it. Being an underdog tends to build resilience.
Critical thinking got us to where we are now, knowledge and information wise. It began with Galileo, Copernicus and the rest who took it upon themselves to try to understand life's hidden mysteries, against the wish of the Catholic Church and several monarchical governments ruling Europe at the time.
That's what triggered the desire for knowledge, made people question already established facts.
Critical thinking has diminished among us today. Most people prefer entertainment on the go. Thinking is seen as rather torturous. That's why they don't stop to consider the information they are fed through the media. This makes it easier for world leaders to keep the common folk under and controllable.
I think they also try to get rid of people who starts asking too many questions, like Galileo was imprisoned and almost killed centuries ago because he questioned some scientific facts put forth by the church and government.
The same reason Socrates was forced to drink hemlock. He walked the streets in his time, teaching people to questions some foolish beliefs they held, no doubt passed on to them by the ruling class.
For that Socrates was apprehended and his life ended. But today this supposed elimination is done secretly, in a way not to around suspicions. It's a terrible world we live in.
It is pretty crazy, right? The thing that makes us such a formidable force, is "too hard" to do, even at basic levels.
And the overconfidence that we are thinking well.
One of the challenges of information today, is so little of it is reliable. None of it can be trusted, because it is all built around agenda, not truth. We saw a lot of misinformation coming from global authorities during Covid for instance.
We have listening option on peakd, but preferring reading is better, as it make more sense to me. In my times reading newspaper was considered to be an easiest way to improve English and vocabs. But today, noone bother to read much, they scroll through screens. Reading loud and clear is good for attentive mindset. Not everyone like it, but the way the generation is dependent on screen, the physical reading items may soon vanishes.
It also helps develop voice proficiency, which a lot of people lack these days too. Many people have "lazy" speaking ability.
I controlled my pace of spea h a lot. I used to put 'Areca nut' under my tongue and used to read the news paper. Gradually it get a command over the pace.
I don't think I could do audiobooks really. I find my mind wandering too much. Even with podcasts I miss a lot of the content because my mind runs off on some odd tangent. My grand niece just turned one a couple months ago and one of the few words she knows already is "book".
I have the same. But I still can cover more ground than I can with reading. I do read, but it is in very short bursts before I need a rest.
This is great. All kids should be taught through "real" mediums if possible.
When I was a kid I apparently spent too much time reading (it was at least as long if not longer than people wringing hands about how long kids and people in general are spending on screens now). Maybe I did; either way somehow magically now because we have a new thing to denigrate you won't hear people whining about how kids are "spending too much time on books" or "too much time in the library" as reading (even excessively) is now seen as a good and desirable thing.
LoL me with the languages I'm learning :D
Then they are going to continue being bored to death of the offerings that come out. I did film units as part of my second course at uni so was hanging out with a lot of people that were self-proclaimed movie aficionados (I was never one) and we were all already noticing how bland and formulaic Big Movie was becoming.
On another angle of this my daughter has been huffily reporting how she keeps finding people (whom I'm uncharitably because I know literally nothing else about them attributing as the type you like to complain about constantly including in this article XD) excitedly making Tiktoks about how they have discovered/worked out the plots/themes of kids' movies.
if this is what a lot of schools are producing I'm glad I didn't send mine
I think in the past, "reading too much" meant not socialising enough. Now, reading too little isn't connected to more socialising - it is more screen time.
Yes. It is sad. Predictability seems to be what people want in a movie.
lols. TikTok is a scourge on humanity. It is taking the lowest common denominator - and making it stupider. But all the "clever" people on it will argue about how valuable it is.
A lot of socialising gets done online. It may not be as "good" as meatspace socialising (it's arguably better if you're a certain kind of introvert) but if that's a criteria then screen time becomes "better" than reading. And there is still a vast difference in how each activity is perceived even though they might both be equal levels of trash.
There is a bit of very clever stuff on it. My daughter has showed me several videos with recipes (several of which she's made) and told me about "cleantok" I think it was called where people were making short videos teaching people how to clean because apparently a lot of people don't know how to clean?! And there's some that show how to do science experiments too. And some really nice makeup tutorials and art timelapses (NOT freaking "speedpaints" that's something else >_< this is not a pet peeve really XD) And that's alongside the usual vlogs.
And then this covers the other 98% of it XD
A brilliant take on how we set ourselves up for failure by running our lives without enough buffer. 'Underprovisioned' is exactly the right word for it. We need to normalize having reserves—of patience, money, and energy—before the crisis hits, not after. Because we often confuse efficiency with living on the edge, leaving no room for error or the unexpected.
It is also why so many people are burning out, as they don't prepare themselves for stress, when they are unstressed.
I'm thinking about it now. My children read very little (only school literature), but they maintain a good conversation with me. I think they learn a lot from watching YouTube videos.
During my school years, I read 3-4 books a week(100 pages a day), mostly science fiction. But I didn't have the internet, and all my scientific facts about the world came from encyclopedias and scientific journals. The flow of such information from journals was narrower than it is now from the internet.
Learn what though? Information, or skill? Having a good conversation with you might not be what is best for them in twenty years from now.
Yes. t also meant that you learned more deeply due to a slower, more concentrated flow. The speed and width of the information flow now means that people are getting flooded and are unable to concentrate well on anything. The ability to focus concentration has also dropped significantly.
Information and its application are essential. Life is full of temptations; we're surrounded by advertisements for harmful products, casinos, bad habits, stock market gambling, and so on.
But the ability to do something with your own hands is certainly essential, especially if you don't have any savings.
And this is the problem with over-consumption, as it might teach information, but not skill.
I think the ease of digital media has made us overlook how important reading is, which is important for developing our creativity and critical thinking skills.
It slows down our learning process too.
Over time I have learned to read everything, but very few authors and books become part of my personal library that connects me with my inner world and environment. Thus, reading goes from obligation to necessity, in addition to pleasure and becomes my best companion in my existence. At least, I need a lot of reading to tolerate and endure so much reality.
Reading can be an escape for sure.
The printing press democratized knowledge only because people worked at reading.
Today we consume without effort, we understand without depth, we believe without questioning.Literacy gave us independence once but screen addiction is quietly taking it back
I am not sure there is any saving us.
A few days ago, I went to teach a student in the salt class. I noticed that he was not able to pronounce properly. He could not even pronounce the books written in our mother tongue and after investigating, I found that the mobile phone is responsible for this and the parents are indifferent. Nowadays, children are addicted to various social media due to which their listening skills are being greatly affected. I even see many students in my school who do not want to go home and study anymore after leaving the institution. Although the parents are responsible for this. Because they themselves are too addicted to mobile phones, their children are also becoming like that.
You have said it all. People sell their attention easily nowadays. Because we don't have time to read. It is easy to sell anything to us and we will just buy it. The world lacks critical thinkers, that is why the people making it big are the ones putting out non useful content in form on entertainment on social media.
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Agree to a certain extent. For example I can do everything around the house myself, but should I? Some things make sense to outsource. I can do repairs of the roof, but our house is a tall three story and it is not worth it for me to take a risk of falling from it and being unable to perform my main highly paid job.
Some thing goes with house remodels. I could remodel the house myself, but it would take much longer than hiring 10 teams half of which can work on the house same day, the carrying cost (loan payments) are much higher than the savings, plus there is a factor of timely to market.
Information is good if you can do something with it, if you are just consuming and not acting upon it that is basically entertainment and good to a point...
Thanks.