Anyway, back to the first one. An article caught my attention today, and I clicked on it and started reading it.
I digress though. The article read like any other, until I happened to notice the name of the author. Sabine! She was the person who introduced me to nautilus, probably from a sponsorship embedded in one of her videos. And yes, I subscribe to her science news videocast. My mind instantly switched from "reading" to a simulated narration of the article in her voice, complete with her German intonation and characteristic facial expressions (she is a pretty good science videocaster, I'd say!)
The change in my reading experience stunned me.
Reading may be efficient, but listening and watching people speak taps into our humanity... even if it's something as dry as competing theories for cosmic inflation, and the listening and watching is run by a wildly imperfect simulation in my head.
It's no wonder video killed my inner bookworm.
1 comment:
What an interesting perspective. Screens definitely killed a lot of things in me, none of them good. This year I made the transition back to paper-based books. That is how I was able to break the stranglehold I was feeling, which I couldn’t explain and only noticed in that I was not being able to read at all.
It turns out that screen content keeps me in fluctuating and highly dramatic states of emotion. We know entertainment content and social media algorithms are both designed for that exact state. I was bingeing, surviving a ruined sleep, food and worst of all - mood cycle.
At the same time, it’s unrealistic to cut off all screen interaction. Now, I’m doing almost all my reading (for leisure) through paper-based books. And I make notes in them, instead of indulging my instinct to tweet/Instagram it. It’s a lot easier to close a book in time for sleep or food than it is to switch off the phone/computer/TV.
I listen to specific podcasts when I’m walking or cooking or travelling, rather than fritter my attention and eyespan between screens and what I’m doing.
And I watch video content when I’m eating.
I realise that this may not last long but I’m trying. I’m back to actually enjoying words and learning new things rather than frantically trying to keep up with volleys of content.
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