Why reading isn't reading anymore.

4:05 on a chilly Tuesday morning. The chaps next to me have dozed off cozily on their chairs.

What keeps me awake? The simple fact that I managed to bundle enough sleep before the shift started. Well, I don't blame 'em. Not many people can pull off a night shift whilst balancing their daily and family activities.

So, much of my blog has been about pieces that I pen/type down whenever I feel like it. I always assumed that showcasing my works to the larger audience would improve the content I ended up delivering.

Such is not the nature of the human soul in the 21st century. Reading has become a redundant system. 

Why?



There is too much information to process, to assimilate and digest. With images and videos getting HD-er by the day, there is little consolation to a writer who sees his posts not with images but with the images he weaves in the reader's head. I miss that a lot.

True to its nature, a photo or a visual aid will add meaning to the content and improve the readability of the article but if the picture speaks a thousand words and I have penned down 800, I might as well google a picture that captures my view. Heck, if I cant find one, two pictures will still take less of the readers time than the 800 words.

I can see photographers - Men and Women alike flourishing on the picture platform that society and technology have constructed so beautifully upon CSS, HTML5 and other things that I can only name and not explain. Let me ask you this, how many articles do you end up reading by an individual that are not related to #modi #arvind #rahul #funny #kitten #amazing #qtiyapa.

From the times of having one black and white outline picture in our textbooks, to having a digital repository of many videos and pictures at our disposal (hint - Google); mankind has come a long way.
From science experiments in home to youtube DIY videos, the factual world has gotten a face lift and what we need to know is available to us in more ways than one.

There is a happy rainbow right there. We have access to learn new stuff by emulating what we see.

Skip the Science kingdom - Let's cut back to the writer's realm.
We have many institutes that offer us to teach better English. We have people with amazing book gripping and finishing capacity. We also have the bunch of people who've seen the movies instead.

But in these dark times for a writer who is judged for his image selection rather than his word selection, I fear the general cancer of social laziness spread by this world obsessed with faster everything and more throughput; is chipping away from us, the joy of writing and reading.

The joy of having the scene run in the privacy of our own mind.
Subject to our own interpretations.
Subject to our own personal touches.

Forgive me for being too science-y; I think the analogy goes like this.

Pictures/Video - Ionic Bond. The content writer posts and the User sees what exactly the content writer posts.

Just words - Co-valence Bond. The writer pens down some of the characteristics of the man/woman in question and the reader as he progresses forms the persona of the character within the head. The character portrayal is split in two views. 
           1)What the writer thinks is critical to the plot and hence direct inference of the character's major traits.- Direct Inference
           2) What you infer from the writer and how the character shapes inside your head - Indirect inference

Call me old if you will, but I liked the world where words made pictures pop in your head; rather than pictures making words of incoherent appreciation (ooh cool! So awesome! etc.,) within your head.

So, since I write; people ask me 'Do you read voraciously as well?'

Reading - is not how many novels you've completed. 
Reading - is not how many characters you can quote off in a minute.
Reading - is not putting pictures of your library collection.

I just grin sheepishly and say 'Well, I used to. Not anymore.' 

P.S - Trying to find audience for this blog, was one of my main challenges when I started. It still is. I have tried the design appeasement method (where the blog was judged by its design - First impression). I have also tried the design - content equality scheme -> Tagged a relevant picture that captures the essence of the article being written. 

But right now, all I need are words.

Because, colors may fade away and books may burn but the fact remains, the book you read is in your mind. Whether you wish to keep your version - the one weaved by the thoughts in your head or the version shown to you is up to you. 

Choose wisely or let them choose it for you :)

 End of Article - 5 am - 15th April 2014.

Comments

Anonymous said…
Good,keep writing:)
Swasti said…
Awesome Bega! My bad, read this one so late..but totally relate to your feelings here..!

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