Reading the 20th Century discussion

Ben wrote:


"I like the radio for times when I don't want to control the specifics of what I listen to, only the general style, but there's so much on. BBC Sounds now it's hard to get off it in favour of listening live, where you can't skip the dull parts.

Probably this all belongs in another thread, but does anyone have a conflict with the next generation over getting information via YouTube rather than print? I always struggle when I get a link to a 26 minute video. I'd so much prefer an article!"

I do find my kids' reliance on YouTube and other digital sources disturbing. Both kids (young adults now) rarely pick up a book despite being encouraged when they were younger.

My daughter's doing a history degree and I doubt has read more than one or two text books, if that.

Ben, I am so with you. For years I told people I wouldn’t waste four hours watching the Oscars when I could find out what I wanted to know in 30 seconds in the next day’s paper. I loathe the idea of videos instead of articles.

I love video entertainment and there can be unique benefits in watching the interchange between two people, but I find it such an inefficient way of conveying information and much harder to apply critical thinking to what is being conveyed.

Ben wrote: "I love video entertainment and there can be unique benefits in watching the interchange between two people, but I find it such an inefficient way of conveying information and much harder to apply c..."

This is it exactly, Ben, and I completely agree. I am so used to reading, where I can take it at my own pace and stop to think or re-read a line when needed. Though I'm sure younger people are better at retaining info they hear than I am, I do not believe that comprehension can possibly be as good from listening/watching versus reading.

What Nigey said about a history degree with few books makes me so sad, but doesn't surprise me. Books are being removed slowly over time from my local university. The students there go to the library to study--I never see them taking books from the shelves anymore, and I fear soon the books will all be gone.

Kathleen wrote: "What Nigey said about a history degree with few books makes me so sad, but doesn't surprise me. Books are being removed slowly over time from my local university. The students there go to the library to study..."

Just a small interjection, for balance. My daughter completed her english degree in the Summer 2021.
Yes, she and her friends used the library extensively, which is a good thing. They also read and discussed all the course work via physical books. Some borrowed, several purchased from the Uni bookshop.

When she graduated I was excited at the prospect of augmenting my shelves with some quality literature (classics and contemporary) . I reluctantly had to consign 95% of the books to the loft given the dog eared corners and the proliferation of yellow marker pen highlights and pencilled notes in the margins.

I am of course glad that the physical entity (the book) in this case prevailed over online/You Tube sources!!

Hurrah

My daughter reads A LOT. My two sons read less - the eldest probably not outside of work, my seventeen year old reads sometimes and mostly non-fiction. However my daughter is a total bookworm and can no longer pass a bookshop without adding to her shelves. Has to be books too, not on screen.

I have read to my children since they were babies. I have a house full of books. I tell myself that, at least, they can all read and one has a passion for books.

I can't understand the attraction of You Tube - or most TV. The odd cooking show or football match and that's my lot. I have even given up the news now and just read the headlines on the internet...

For book lovers of a certain age, I totally recommend a recent memoir I loved: No One Round Here Reads Tolstoy

Hmm, there's a danger here of us sounding like luddites when we're clearly not, and we shouldn't underestimate, of course, the vast sources of information at our fingertips.

If students aren't having to read, I'd blame lecturers and teachers as well. I've certainly had students saying that they're going to listen to the audiobook of, say, Paradise Lost or The Faerie Queene - and my response has always been sure, it's poetry, the sound is important, but listen *as well as* read and enforce it by making them present on a close reading of a section of text.

I'm essentially with Ben when he says: 'but I find it [video] such an inefficient way of conveying information and much harder to apply critical thinking to what is being conveyed.'
Exactly! Those of us who are fast readers whizz through text far quicker than listening. And reading is an active dialogue whereas listening is passive - though that is arguably conditioning and practice rather than an intrinsic comment on different media. Less literate cultures have far better listening skills.

I think most parents would happily turn back time and not make mobile phones a must-have for teens or younger kids. My granddaughters are 14 and 16, after the 14 yr old broke the phone rules one too many times, my daughter took the phone away and got my granddaughter a phone she can use to call and text, but has no internet capability, even WiFi. The change in her was astounding. She said that she feels her anxiety level has gone way down and she is a happier, cheerful girl again. Once the 16 yr old who still has social media saw the change in her sister she started putting her phone on airplane mode in the evenings.

I read a piece in The Guardian yesterday saying exactly the same thing with teenagers ditching smartphones - Nokia have even brought back their classic design that allows calls and texts only.

I guess the issue is, as always, taking personal control of technology in a positive way rather than being at its mercy.

Roman Clodia wrote: "Hmm, there's a danger here of us sounding like luddites when we're clearly not, and we shouldn't underestimate, of course, the vast sources of information at our fingertips.

If students aren't ha..."

Although students have, for many generations, had lectures at the core of their learning particularly in arts-related subjects, many of which have been/are still far from interactive.

Kathleen wrote: "Ben wrote: "I love video entertainment and there can be unique benefits in watching the interchange between two people, but I find it such an inefficient way of conveying information and much harde..."

Is that lack of reading though? A lot of courses issue course readers in print or digitally, or make them available in e-formats, and in some ways that's been a positive thing in terms of access to learning materials, so many students find it hard to afford academic texts, and the numbers of print books libraries can supply are extremely limited.

I don't tend to make a hard distinction between forms of media, some just work better for certain types of content than others.

Some years ago the school down the street from me, Loyola University, digitized their library so they go rid of all of their books. I heard from my cousin who was teaching in Kansas but had a good friend at Loyola.

A number of the lawyers I worked with said they hadn't opened a book (other than law books) since law school. I've always been a big reader, my brother not so much.