11 ms·

This is really about whether reading highbrow fiction specifically can make you happier. I find it odd. Fiction was created as and remains fundamentally a form

This is really about whether reading highbrow fiction specifically can make you happier. I find it odd. Fiction was created as and remains fundamentally a form of entertainment. It’s like asking if watching Netflix can make you happier. Yes sure but not usually deeply. This is just another symptom of how we’ve made literature precious, and appreciating it almost religious, certainly a form of snobbery. The New Yorker will write an article like this on “bibliotherapy” but never take seriously the idea you can get the same affect from binge watching the Sopranos.

sandspar 2y ago
Hot and cold mediums. TV is hotter than novels, colder mediums require more effortful cognition. A novel is more of a blank slate that you project your own experience on, thereby making it more meaningful for you. A TV show has already been pre-processed by casting agents and actors and set designers, so it's less personal to you and hence less meaningful.
- SoftTalker 2y ago
  IDK. I've certainly "binged" on reading an engrossing novel straight through. I don't get the same engagement watching TV. I've binged on TV for maybe 4 hours at a time then I just get to feeling like a completely lazy slob. I've spent 12+ hours on a book more than once.
  - d1sxeyes 2y ago
    This is a really interesting point. I completely agree, but I cannot identify why. If I spend a day reading a book, I feel as though I had a nice day reading. If I binge watch a series I feel as though I wasted a day. There must be some logical reason for this difference, even if both are “just entertainment”.
    - kwhitefoot 2y ago
      Television is hypnotic. I vaguely remember someone claiming that watching television was more effective at slowing breathing and metabolic rates than meditation and yoga but without making one feel refreshed. I can't remember where or when I saw this. But perhaps some part of the population is getting out from under that now that fewer people watch broadcast television favouring on demand services instead. I don't watch broadcast television any more at home but I do when visiting family and I now find it immensely irritating except for the few splendid things like Suchet's Poirot (better than the books in my opinion). And occasionally a gem like Emma Thompson's Sense and Sensibility turns up as it did on a British TV channel last week. Perhaps it was the story and my own immediate circumstances together but it had me in gales of laughter at one moment and gushing with tears at another. I just turned the television off afterwards.
    - MrVandemar 2y ago
      Perhaps the negative feeling you get when binging television is related to memory and comprehension. There was a study called "The impact of binge watching on memory and perceived comprehension"[1] that found that you remember less of what you binge, and more of what you watch with intervals. V. interesting. -- [1] https://firstmonday.org/ojs/index.php/fm/article/view/7729/6532 https://firstmonday.org/ojs/index.php/fm/article/view/7729/6...
    - cmiller1 2y ago
      I feel like reading requires more active engagement of my brain than passively watching a TV show. Perhaps it's as simple as a mechanism similar to exercise, where spending a day walking is good for our bodies but sitting is not, spending a day with your brain in a totally passive consumption mode might be the equivalent for mental and cognitive wellness.
- maxglute 2y ago
  Where does audiobooks lie. I find it even easier to engage than TV since I don't have to pay attention to visuals and I'm on pace of the narrator. Or faster. 2-3x playback speed and turns content that requires engagement into timepass. Sometimes I feel guilty for being unserious, but as non reader I consume "more" books this way.
- vundercind 2y ago
  It’s natural to encounter a sublime sentence or passage in a book and re-read and deeply appreciate it for a while before moving on. It’s less natural to do that with a TV show. They’re good at different things, though not without overlap.
deleted 2y ago
[deleted]

sandspar 2y ago

Hot and cold mediums. TV is hotter than novels, colder mediums require more effortful cognition. A novel is more of a blank slate that you project your own experience on, thereby making it more meaningful for you. A TV show has already been pre-processed by casting agents and actors and set designers, so it's less personal to you and hence less meaningful.

SoftTalker 2y ago
IDK. I've certainly "binged" on reading an engrossing novel straight through. I don't get the same engagement watching TV. I've binged on TV for maybe 4 hours at a time then I just get to feeling like a completely lazy slob. I've spent 12+ hours on a book more than once.
- d1sxeyes 2y ago
  This is a really interesting point. I completely agree, but I cannot identify why. If I spend a day reading a book, I feel as though I had a nice day reading. If I binge watch a series I feel as though I wasted a day. There must be some logical reason for this difference, even if both are “just entertainment”.
  - kwhitefoot 2y ago
    Television is hypnotic. I vaguely remember someone claiming that watching television was more effective at slowing breathing and metabolic rates than meditation and yoga but without making one feel refreshed. I can't remember where or when I saw this. But perhaps some part of the population is getting out from under that now that fewer people watch broadcast television favouring on demand services instead. I don't watch broadcast television any more at home but I do when visiting family and I now find it immensely irritating except for the few splendid things like Suchet's Poirot (better than the books in my opinion). And occasionally a gem like Emma Thompson's Sense and Sensibility turns up as it did on a British TV channel last week. Perhaps it was the story and my own immediate circumstances together but it had me in gales of laughter at one moment and gushing with tears at another. I just turned the television off afterwards.
  - MrVandemar 2y ago
    Perhaps the negative feeling you get when binging television is related to memory and comprehension. There was a study called "The impact of binge watching on memory and perceived comprehension"[1] that found that you remember less of what you binge, and more of what you watch with intervals. V. interesting. -- [1] https://firstmonday.org/ojs/index.php/fm/article/view/7729/6532 https://firstmonday.org/ojs/index.php/fm/article/view/7729/6...
  - cmiller1 2y ago
    I feel like reading requires more active engagement of my brain than passively watching a TV show. Perhaps it's as simple as a mechanism similar to exercise, where spending a day walking is good for our bodies but sitting is not, spending a day with your brain in a totally passive consumption mode might be the equivalent for mental and cognitive wellness.
maxglute 2y ago
Where does audiobooks lie. I find it even easier to engage than TV since I don't have to pay attention to visuals and I'm on pace of the narrator. Or faster. 2-3x playback speed and turns content that requires engagement into timepass. Sometimes I feel guilty for being unserious, but as non reader I consume "more" books this way.
vundercind 2y ago
It’s natural to encounter a sublime sentence or passage in a book and re-read and deeply appreciate it for a while before moving on. It’s less natural to do that with a TV show. They’re good at different things, though not without overlap.

deleted 2y ago

[deleted]