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posted by n1 on Sunday June 15 2014, @03:39AM   Printer-friendly
from the tl;dr dept.

Tim Gray, writing in the New York Reviews of Books, has a very interesting article that asks whether it has become impossible to find the uninterrupted blocks of time that are needed to read serious works of literature, and whether the change in the reading environment is also changing how books are written.

Ordinarily I ignore the "Computer Bad! Destroy Society!" arguments, but I have to say that what he describes seems all too familiar. I can't recall the last time that I actually sat down for two or three hours just to read.

I grew up spending hours each day, every day devouring books of all sorts. Is this a thing that's lost to people raised with Internet, Game Consoles, and Smartphones? Pardon me if I sound like an old fart.

 
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  • (Score: 2) by Subsentient on Sunday June 15 2014, @03:56AM

    by Subsentient (1111) on Sunday June 15 2014, @03:56AM (#55481) Homepage Journal

    I have trouble finding a chunk of time just to even code, that coupled with tiredness makes it very hard to find time when I am both free to code and able to code. I understand.

    --
    "It is no measure of health to be well adjusted to a profoundly sick society." -Jiddu Krishnamurti
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  • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Sunday June 15 2014, @04:21AM

    by Anonymous Coward on Sunday June 15 2014, @04:21AM (#55492)

    Stop checking Facefuck, Twatter, and Gspotmail every five seconds. There's plenty of time when you quit fragmenting your time.

    • (Score: 2) by captain normal on Sunday June 15 2014, @06:30AM

      by captain normal (2205) on Sunday June 15 2014, @06:30AM (#55520)

      Also hanging out on SN etc...

      --
      The Musk/Trump interview appears to have been hacked, but not a DDOS hack...more like A Distributed Denial of Reality.
    • (Score: 2) by Subsentient on Sunday June 15 2014, @06:32AM

      by Subsentient (1111) on Sunday June 15 2014, @06:32AM (#55521) Homepage Journal

      I don't even have a Facebook account, nor a Twitter account. I don't check my email more than twice a day.

      --
      "It is no measure of health to be well adjusted to a profoundly sick society." -Jiddu Krishnamurti
    • (Score: 2) by Tork on Sunday June 15 2014, @07:15AM

      by Tork (3914) Subscriber Badge on Sunday June 15 2014, @07:15AM (#55530)
      All this hostility towards people with friends.
      --
      🏳️‍🌈 Proud Ally 🏳️‍🌈
      • (Score: 2) by maxwell demon on Sunday June 15 2014, @07:39AM

        by maxwell demon (1608) on Sunday June 15 2014, @07:39AM (#55536) Journal

        I have friends. I don't have facebook or twitter accounts.

        You know, people even had friends before facebook or twitter (or even the internet) existed. And it somehow worked without being constantly up to date to the last minute about them.

        --
        The Tao of math: The numbers you can count are not the real numbers.
        • (Score: 2) by Tork on Sunday June 15 2014, @08:23AM

          by Tork (3914) Subscriber Badge on Sunday June 15 2014, @08:23AM (#55544)
          And then Facebook came along and became popular for no good reason, right?
          --
          🏳️‍🌈 Proud Ally 🏳️‍🌈
          • (Score: 2) by maxwell demon on Sunday June 15 2014, @09:29AM

            by maxwell demon (1608) on Sunday June 15 2014, @09:29AM (#55554) Journal

            It doesn't matter for my argument. Being on facebook is not equivalent with having friends, contrary to your claim. That's the point I'm making. Not more, not less.

            There are good reasons not to be on facebook. Not having friends is not one of them.

            --
            The Tao of math: The numbers you can count are not the real numbers.
            • (Score: 2) by Tork on Sunday June 15 2014, @09:58AM

              by Tork (3914) Subscriber Badge on Sunday June 15 2014, @09:58AM (#55558)

              You brought up how it was before... so, sorry, yes it is relevent in relation to your argument. I agree with you that there are good reasons to stay away from Facebook, but if you cannot acknowledge what it brings to the table you cannot speak with credibility.

              --
              🏳️‍🌈 Proud Ally 🏳️‍🌈
              • (Score: 2) by maxwell demon on Sunday June 15 2014, @11:40AM

                by maxwell demon (1608) on Sunday June 15 2014, @11:40AM (#55567) Journal

                To reject your implication that not being on facebook means not having friends, I wouldn't even need to know what facebook is.

                --
                The Tao of math: The numbers you can count are not the real numbers.
                • (Score: 2) by Tork on Sunday June 15 2014, @06:07PM

                  by Tork (3914) Subscriber Badge on Sunday June 15 2014, @06:07PM (#55633)
                  Umm, no, that was never implied in my post.
                  --
                  🏳️‍🌈 Proud Ally 🏳️‍🌈
                • (Score: 2) by Tork on Monday June 16 2014, @12:01AM

                  by Tork (3914) Subscriber Badge on Monday June 16 2014, @12:01AM (#55710)
                  So did technology destroy your ability to read? ;)
                  --
                  🏳️‍🌈 Proud Ally 🏳️‍🌈
  • (Score: 2) by Grishnakh on Monday June 16 2014, @02:37AM

    by Grishnakh (2831) on Monday June 16 2014, @02:37AM (#55747)

    I have a terrible time concentrating on code when my stupid desk is in an open-plan work area right on a busy corridor. How employers think these environments are supposed to be conducive to work requiring concentration, I have no idea.