Comment by TFNA
7 days ago
> these days
Bill Hicks, the standup comedian dead for over three decades already, had a now-classic bit about being challenged for reading by a waitress. Reading has always been uncool to some people.
7 days ago
> these days
Bill Hicks, the standup comedian dead for over three decades already, had a now-classic bit about being challenged for reading by a waitress. Reading has always been uncool to some people.
Funnily enough, smart phones (and previous feature phones with their SMS) have probably gotten more people into reading and writing for leisure than any other technology since the printing press.
Granted, people are not doing any long form reading and writing on these devices, but they are reading and writing.
You’re underestimating how many people almost entirely just doom scroll videos, especially young people.
For a brief period before instagrams and youtube became mainstream and tiktoks came along to decimate whatever was left.
This is an exaggeration, but I wouldn't rule out your average smartphone user reading less in an average commute than they would do just reading store signs as they pass...
But they're reading multiple words overlayed on the 30 second video! And they sometimes write "wtf stupd g* n* lol" as a comment! That gotta count!?!
I disagree, people used to read newspapers and magazines. Even if you were not an intellectual or interested in politics you'd read the sports daily, or the gossip column.
This activity has largely disappeared.
Yeah obviously they still teach letters at school. People can read their name.
But reading a long form article about the Iran war? It looks bleak.
Not what am I reading...but what am I reading for? Well, shit! You stumped me!