this post was submitted on 12 Aug 2023
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Showerthoughts

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Dumbing down doesn't mean "philosophy versus Call of Duty". It just means what's intuitive versus what takes conscious effort. Heck, Call of Duty could demand conscious effort.

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[–] [email protected] 20 points 1 year ago (3 children)

You can't? I find it to be a world of difference between reading a scientific reports and a youth novel for instance. Or some kind of classical literature compared to a comic book.

[–] [email protected] 15 points 1 year ago (3 children)

You can, but not in the moment. You have to pick up a different book to do that and most people don't read more than one book concurrently. So you just put the book down and do something else.

Whereas on the internet, you can very quickly flip to comment threads if you get tired of reading articles.

[–] [email protected] 2 points 1 year ago

You can do that when you're reading with a tablet, eReader or Phone

[–] [email protected] 1 points 1 year ago

Yes I agree, that's what too often happen to me. Plus I can read a phone without using any hands. But op talked about dumbing down the reading and if they meant the medium, well there's lots of things you can read on the internet as well.

[–] [email protected] 7 points 1 year ago (1 children)

But that would require switching the medium wich again takes conscious effort.

However, I find myself reading 2-3 books for exactly that reason.

[–] [email protected] 1 points 1 year ago

Yepp, so as you say this is a question of medium, not reading.

[–] [email protected] 4 points 1 year ago

You're right :) what I mean is that the internet demands a couple of keystrokes or a click to change content. A book may require getting up from my chair, or worse, going to a store and waiting a couple of days for them to get the book I want.

[–] [email protected] 16 points 1 year ago

A lot of the internet is literally designed to be addictive. Engagement algorithms are a thing that exists.

[–] [email protected] 4 points 1 year ago* (last edited 2 months ago)

you can read "dumber" books, but the internet literally responds to you.

[–] [email protected] 1 points 1 year ago (1 children)

Also constant novel content

[–] [email protected] 2 points 1 year ago

I see what you did there with the word "novel" 👀

[–] [email protected] -1 points 1 year ago

There is also the "unexpected" or "unknown" and social character of the internet.