Materiality

When examining the effect of material medium on readers of texts, I'm inherently inclined to be self-reflexive and "represent," as the kids say these days.

Living in an urban setting subversively embeds in one's psyche, if nothing else, that "time is money." What does that mean for the dying race of bookworms? It means that you've either got to alienate yourself as a luddite, comprimise the city experience by burying your nose in a novel at all times...or find a different way to read.

I try to do a little of both, personally, though the former is rarer and rarer as my busy schedule gets busier. I admit it: i get my textual entertainment from podcasts. Lots and lots of podcasts.

This way I can, say, write this blog post AND listen to the news.

So what's the effect? Well scientists say that my generation is therefore better at multitasking, but practically inept at focusing on any one thing at time. The biggest effect I've noticed is that the experience of a story is different...and some would argue worse.

There is a similar argument to the problem of video games on a new generation: that the imagination is becoming useless. When I hear a story on PRI's "Selected Shorts", the character's voices (their accents, emphasizers, temperments) are given to me. The audio tone is set for me without any effort of my own. This can be a bad thing because I lose the aspect of reading which challenges me to relate my own perceptions of humanity to "hear" the voices in my head. However, having this audial-given lends to my brain the capacity to concentrate on a more vivid visual presentation in my mind. It also allows my mind to wander a bit more easily than if I were deliberately holding a book in front of me.


One loses that magical effect of holding papyrus between the fingers. The text no longer reads in some abstract voice in your mind, transporting you to an alternate reality that only you at that very moment get to discover. Instead, is spoonfed to you while you simultaneously smoke a cigarette, do your laundry, and surf facebook.

I suppose there's therefore some merit in the attempts of kindle and the like brining stories in text-form back to the bookworms of the world. But I think kindle is just weird. After all, books aren't that expensive.