I heart xkcd
Art Project
Sunday, August 3, 2014
Early Writing vs. Modern Writing
Towards the beginning of the fourth chapter of The Shallows: What the Internet is Doing to Our Brains, Carr writes about how difficult reading used to be. In early writing, there were no punctuation marks, spaces between words, or rules of word order. I cannot even imagine how strenuous reading must have been. Although many of us have had to slow down and reread sentences with two these nonfiction books, ancient readers had to pause frequently and truly focus while reading. Once writers began to apply spacing, punctuation marks, and rules of word order to their work, people were able to read fluently and quickly while being engaged and attentive. Why do you think that it is still difficult for some to "deep read" after these significant changes? I personally believe that it is because of how easily our attention can be broken by technology. I noticed that my phone has drawn my attention many times while I'm reading.
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
I never took ancient writing into consideration, in honesty, and I super like how you did. But I don't think it's how distracted we are are as much as it is what the distraction actually is. We're teenagers right now, so it's hard for me to tell completely, but I'm distracted regardless of what's distracting me. My phone was nothing compared to how much I thought about what happened the previous day, or how a phrase in a book reminded me of a completely new topic I could spend hours talking to my sister about. And really, when thinking about teenagers 50 years ago, were they all that different? Technology, I feel, has just become a sort of scapegoat for why we get so antsy when reading. We don't know for certain how we would think if we were never introduced to technology, so we have no comparison. Carr does touch in the epilogue or first chapter of The Shallows (I think?) that he himself isn't as attentive as he was, and maybe he's right, maybe it is technology's effect. But technology is also an expert tempter, and it just may be the fact that he has one more thing telling him to set his book down, and the fact that that one thing could lead you to a wider variety of things than a guitar or some food ever could.
ReplyDeleteI did not know that's how reading used to be in ancient times, but now it sort of makes sense. I mean writing just didn't appear like it is now out of no where. Having said that I agree with your point when you say it is because of our distractions that is technology prevents us, or at least some of us, to deeply read as you say, or better yet to read at all, despite how easy reading has become. And I also find myself being distracted by my phone when I'm supposed to be reading. Whoops.
ReplyDeleteI agree that technology is a key reason on why many people, especially now, find it difficult to concentrate and read deeply. However, I also believe it is because society is changing the importance of reading. Many people believe that reading is useless and you're weird or nerdish for doing it. Moreover people, especially teenagers, want to fit in, so if reading isn't seen as cool then why do it? That's why so many kids struggle with reading in class because that's the only time that many of them do it. Therefore if you don't practice, reading deeply will be a skill not many will have.
ReplyDeleteReading is, indeed, a skill that needs to be practiced. However, since society tends to look down on the people that regularly read, many teens reject deep reading. Maybe technology is an excuse many teens use so that they don't feel too insecure about using their time in this way.
ReplyDelete