Thanks for writing this Conor. It’s something I’ve been reading a lot about and this is a refreshing and original take.
I will think of myself as priest like when I go and buy my physical copy of the paper tomorrow (I never, ever see anyone of my own age doing this now)
Speaking of priests and Ireland: was it you who said that Father Ted couldn’t have been made in any other decade but the 1990s? This was when the church had institutional strength (so worth making fun of) but when people felt increased freedom to satirise.
Reading and writing is still a prime way to exchange information for the intelligent, see the rise of substack (and frankly, given some of the stuff I see on here, for the not so intelligent too). I see the change as more for the less intelligent, where video is taking over.
A big dividing point seems to be the question of whether one can take in information faster via reading vs via video. Many readers can, and find the rise of video incomprehensible as it's slower. But clearly for many it's different (or they're not trying to 'take in information' at all).
The decline in male fiction reading and writing though is a separate issue. I'd say this is a gender-flight one as publishing and fiction reading has become more female dominated.
I think this is broadly right, but we're not so much exiting the age of longform reading as exiting the age of mass longform reading. That has arguably been coming for some time: to my eye peak print was around the end of the 19th century. In the aftermath the vast majority are post-print, yes; but the world of elite letters is if anything more interesting today than it has been in years, and arguably more male too
Thanks for writing this Conor. It’s something I’ve been reading a lot about and this is a refreshing and original take.
I will think of myself as priest like when I go and buy my physical copy of the paper tomorrow (I never, ever see anyone of my own age doing this now)
Speaking of priests and Ireland: was it you who said that Father Ted couldn’t have been made in any other decade but the 1990s? This was when the church had institutional strength (so worth making fun of) but when people felt increased freedom to satirise.
It was me! Thanks for remembering
I may have passed this off in the pub as my own insight.
Reading and writing is still a prime way to exchange information for the intelligent, see the rise of substack (and frankly, given some of the stuff I see on here, for the not so intelligent too). I see the change as more for the less intelligent, where video is taking over.
A big dividing point seems to be the question of whether one can take in information faster via reading vs via video. Many readers can, and find the rise of video incomprehensible as it's slower. But clearly for many it's different (or they're not trying to 'take in information' at all).
The decline in male fiction reading and writing though is a separate issue. I'd say this is a gender-flight one as publishing and fiction reading has become more female dominated.
I think this is broadly right, but we're not so much exiting the age of longform reading as exiting the age of mass longform reading. That has arguably been coming for some time: to my eye peak print was around the end of the 19th century. In the aftermath the vast majority are post-print, yes; but the world of elite letters is if anything more interesting today than it has been in years, and arguably more male too
Another example of what you describe above: https://x.com/dickiebush/status/1879884267951739208?mx=2