| “In book form” is a really important part of what you’re saying. I’d bet that people, on average, read more words per day in 2026 than at any other point in history (unless it peaked slightly pre-TikTok and other video content becoming more primary). This is a different type of reading, as you say. Its reward pattern is different. I do think that, relative to how much ‘reading less longform prose’ is bemoaned, there is not enough attention being paid to: 1. How can we post in a more valuable way? The mediums are necessarily different, but have we been too defeatist thus far about the difference in potential value? It’s difficult to innovate on a new form of writing - is that a question we’re avoiding? What would the Modernists do? I don’t have an answer, but at least this is an area where each individual might have an impact on other humans’ feeds. 2. Relatedly, when bemoaning ‘reading less longform prose’, are we fundamentally misunderstanding a new and valuable mode of information transfer? Are we living in the old world? How meaningfully relevant is a dead or dying form? 3. Can books themselves take on any qualities of ‘the feed’ that meaningfully improve the way they convey information, either in writing or presentation? When you have people (maybe) reading more, these feel like potentially more pragmatic and perhaps more optimistic framings, or questions to ask - without denigrating the value of the traditional medium. |