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> But I read so much more You're reading all the time on the internet, it's literally the foundational enabling skill of it. I find it very weird when people

by XorNot 4y ago

> But I read so much more You're reading all the time on the internet, it's literally the foundational enabling skill of it. I find it very weird when people say the benefit of being offline is they "read more".

glitchc 4y ago
Online reading is all sizzle and no steak. It’s akin to making a meal out of condiments: Each individual element is tasty but the overall meal leaves you dissatisfied.
- mark_l_watson 4y ago
  In general I agree with you. As interesting as stuff on Twitter (I follow some very interesting people) and HN is, I use https://freedom.to https://freedom.to to time-box my access. I don’t time-box my access at all for reading books. That said, I have some low quality conversations with friends in real life also. However that is a different dynamic because conversation does not have to perfect and periods of silence while, for example, hiking with friends is also good. I don’t want to go off on a rant here, but our civilization is changing: more automation, less work required from a large fraction of the population. We need to get “being a human” in this new world right. Going on a Cal Newport style digital diet is just a part of a strategy for life.
- sneak 4y ago
  Don’t tell Project Gutenberg, or Wikimedia, or Codecademy. (Your assessment is an unfair and inaccurate overgeneralization. One can use the internet to read books, blogs, articles, courses, etc, but of course you know this.)
tenebrisalietum 4y ago
I really think much Internet content is more like cheap magazines/newspapers - small articles that can be read in under 5 minutes, ads and distractions peppered everywhere, and comment sections that are often large collections of short text. Social media is that experience on a higher scale. The experience is not the same as sitting down and reading a 300 page book cover to cover which is also the product of an author sitting down and spending months or even years writing it. Of course that experience is definitely possible on the Internet - ebooks/PDF. But someone "reading" social media is not the same as really reading.
tomxor 4y ago
The "more" is implying something of substance. Reading online doesn't feel like reading. Most offline material is long form and has a clear purpose, otherwise it wouldn't continue existing. When you read it you are more likely to come away fulfilled, with new thoughts and ideas to process. You can't usually say the same coming away from most social network type interactions on the internet - You might have satiated your FOMO temporarily, but otherwise will likely feel empty. Obviously it's not all like that, there exists long form content on the web, but that's not really what we are talking about.

by XorNot 4y ago

glitchc 4y ago

Online reading is all sizzle and no steak. It’s akin to making a meal out of condiments: Each individual element is tasty but the overall meal leaves you dissatisfied.

mark_l_watson 4y ago
In general I agree with you. As interesting as stuff on Twitter (I follow some very interesting people) and HN is, I use https://freedom.to https://freedom.to to time-box my access. I don’t time-box my access at all for reading books. That said, I have some low quality conversations with friends in real life also. However that is a different dynamic because conversation does not have to perfect and periods of silence while, for example, hiking with friends is also good. I don’t want to go off on a rant here, but our civilization is changing: more automation, less work required from a large fraction of the population. We need to get “being a human” in this new world right. Going on a Cal Newport style digital diet is just a part of a strategy for life.
sneak 4y ago
Don’t tell Project Gutenberg, or Wikimedia, or Codecademy. (Your assessment is an unfair and inaccurate overgeneralization. One can use the internet to read books, blogs, articles, courses, etc, but of course you know this.)

tenebrisalietum 4y ago

I really think much Internet content is more like cheap magazines/newspapers - small articles that can be read in under 5 minutes, ads and distractions peppered everywhere, and comment sections that are often large collections of short text. Social media is that experience on a higher scale. The experience is not the same as sitting down and reading a 300 page book cover to cover which is also the product of an author sitting down and spending months or even years writing it. Of course that experience is definitely possible on the Internet - ebooks/PDF. But someone "reading" social media is not the same as really reading.

tomxor 4y ago

The "more" is implying something of substance. Reading online doesn't feel like reading. Most offline material is long form and has a clear purpose, otherwise it wouldn't continue existing. When you read it you are more likely to come away fulfilled, with new thoughts and ideas to process. You can't usually say the same coming away from most social network type interactions on the internet - You might have satiated your FOMO temporarily, but otherwise will likely feel empty. Obviously it's not all like that, there exists long form content on the web, but that's not really what we are talking about.