Comments on: Chewing on bits, bites, and full on meals

By: Diana

Diana — Fri, 15 Aug 2008 03:38:17 +0000

I’ve had a very similar experience over the past year or so. I catch myself in conversations and in tying, feeling dumber and dumber. I know more on a wide variety of topics but seem to be watering down any substantial knowledge of one or two given ideas.

I’ll get into conversations and do the same thing, “hey did you hear about”, and then I get asked, “what do you know about it…”. Which usually follows with, “well I was reading online (2 paragraphs in) and moved on.

A few weekends ago, I put down the laptop and picked up some books. It felt good to read again. There’s something nice about picking up a bound book and holding it in your hands. Maybe it’s just me. I think it really is a balancing of new and old media.

I’ve started carrying books around with me, in case I have a moment to hide away in a corner during the day and get a few pages in.

To add a little new tech to the old, I’m using GoodReads (http://goodreads.com) website to keep a list of the books I want to read, am reading and have read.

By: Owen

Owen — Wed, 06 Aug 2008 18:15:06 +0000

Closing up shop and heading to the library seems a little reactionary.

I dropped by this post specifically because I thought you were going to talk about books. I read books. I read many books. Call me prejudiced for thinking that reading blog entries and link aggregation sites does not constitute “reading”.

Nonetheless, I agree with your premise. I think there is even more of a dangerous edge to it than you’ve outlined.

In addition to reading little bits about everything and not gaining a solid foundation in any discipline, you’re also exposing yourself to the echo chamber of the blogosphere. Think about the last time you talked to a blogging Luddite – someone who doesn’t write them, doesn’t read them, doesn’t care about them – and you’ll see that the world is rife with topics that are poorly covered online or when they are, they’re so sharply opinionated as to obscure leagues of relevant information, not not mention alternate opinion.

All that said, I think that I don’t read quite enough material online to keep up with the Joneses. I’ve got Amazon boxes coming in once or twice a week, and subscriptions to a couple of key news magazines. I could probably stand to augment that with some online news sources. I’m happy with my RSS reading now, down to about 30 feeds, of which about a third are aggregate feeds from multiple sites about specific topics I have interest in, rather than any specific blogs.

By: Sameer

Sameer — Wed, 06 Aug 2008 16:58:05 +0000

I will see the occasional article title and decide rifle through it for pertinent information to “feel” up to speed, but I’ll announce in conversation I know nothing more than that the event actually happened. Most of the blogs or sites I subscribe to are very focused in information, being mainly movie industry news and the like, or those of friends. So it’s easier to follow and digest. I’ve found myself being pickier about what I read more and more. If it doesn’t immediately sound of interest to me, I will not read it.

Since I’ve had a computer in front of me most of the time, I tend to read articles and posts throughout my day. However, once a routine sets in, I generally have a big morning read, checking e-mail and as many articles as I have in my RSS feeds, and then I do the same thing at night. Start my day and finish my day with internet browsing and reading.