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Is Always On Tech Destroying Our Ability To Read?

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

Appalbarry writes:

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: 0) by aos on Sunday June 15 2014, @04:07AM

    by aos (758) on Sunday June 15 2014, @04:07AM (#55486)

    Blocks of time are not my problem so much as attention span. When I spend too much time on the computer/phone doing mindless activities (working doesn't count, as that requires focus), I find myself similarly fleeting in the real world as well. It requires some readjustments to my focus to get into a library book; I don't remember this happening when I was younger, but then again, all of my computer time was spent either engaging with others on IRC clones, writing software or playing games. I didn't waste much time reading the news or watching Youtube...I guess TV would have had a similar effect on previous generations if one channel surfed continuously.