I’ve mostly stopped answering calls.
If I have your number saved, I’ll pick up. Everyone else, sorry.🤷♂️I assume unknown numbers are spam, and it’s not worth the hassle to answer.
I wonder if you feel the same.
It’s been several weeks since I wrote A Case for Books, outlining my prediction for a coming renaissance of reading. Many posts since have focused on books, reading, and literature in some way.
I’m ready to turn a page (sorry) on the subject.
But before we start a new chapter (sorry again), I want to leave five final thoughts about that prediction, based on feedback from you and time reflecting.
1. Unanswered Calls
One thought I try to put forward in the piece is that we don’t have to spend all our time on the internet. Screen time has been increasing, and so we assume that it will inevitably increase forever. For a variety of reasons, I imagine an environment where more people draw lines in the sand to curb (not eliminate) their mindless scrolling.
Two of those reasons are frustration and exhaustion.
A friend reminded me of the perfect analogy—spam calls.
Bogus calls have gotten so prevalent that people stopped answering the phone altogether. If you’re like me, your phone doesn’t even ring when it’s an unknown number.
Think about that. Apple, the company that put the iPhone in millions of peoples’ pockets, installed that setting. It’s essentially an admission of the fundamental problem with phone calls, one that’s not in their power to correct.
Apply that to social media platforms.
The internet has faded in novelty, and as platforms get flooded with bots and AI-spam-filler content, it’s certainly possible we log on less.
Which leads me to…
2. The Internet is Going Nowhere
If everyone spent an hour less on screens every day, we’d still be addicted.
If everyone spent an additional hour in a book, that’s a revolution of reading.
I state multiple times in the piece that the internet is here to stay—of course. I feel the point was missed by some:
It won’t be one or the other. Screen time will become more immersive, yet we’ll retreat to paper stories. We won’t just buy more books; we’ll find will to pick them up again.
Both can be true. Advancing tech and increasing appeal of alternatives, too.
Which leads me to…
3. The Public and Records
Look, most music is streamed online.
But what we’ve seen is a surprising, extended period of interest in the old medium of music storage. Find a trendy store and they’re selling it. Find a major artist and they’re promoting it. Find a fan and they’re collecting special editions.
I end the piece with another analogy—that of books to vinyl records.
What I’m not predicting when it comes to books is some fully analog future.
I define a renaissance of reading by increased books sales and an increased number of books completed. Moreover, there’s a critical cultural component. For lack of a better term, it must feel like something is happening.
Records haven’t overtaken streaming. But they can’t be produced fast enough, and they’ve proven to have cultural weight.
The same can be true of books.
Again, I think this is clear in the original piece, but it’s worth reiterating.
Which leads me to…
4. But Who’s Counting?
I’ve been defending myself a bit with those last two points. But let’s talk about what I would do differently.
This might be in the weeds.
I end the piece with three numbered points which could precipitate the change: censorship, AI, and a black swan event.
Judging by space on the page, these points take up fifty percent of the piece. But they’re not fifty percent of the message.
When you list out numbered points, those are what the reader will remember. I haven’t changed my mind about these points, but I’m much more interested in the cultural themes I begin the piece with.
With the benefit of time, if I could do it over I would reorder the essay according to the importance of the ideas.
Which leads me to…
5. Fruitless Thinking
There was one theme I wanted to work into the prediction which simply seemed too big to tackle.
So I tackled it with last week’s post instead.
Together, we’ve been testing the limits of a philosophy—one which makes everything shallow, practical, and one-dimensional.
I simply believe in humanity too much to believe we stay here forever.
Maybe that’s the craziest part of my prediction. But we’ve all had the moment when we get a little soft in our habits and think I should change this.
I’m not predicting some high-minded, literary future.
But again, reasonable correction. I think we’ll get tired of misunderstanding basic themes in movies and books. We’ll get tired of every piece of media having to slap us with The Point™️.
When all people are given are bites of what to think, something that makes you think suddenly finds appeal.
Last Word
Sometimes things seem inevitable, and they are.
Other times, they seem inevitable until they suddenly aren’t.
We act like we’re destined to be glued to these devices, but what if we’re not? Apps are designed to addict, but who says they can’t lose appeal like everything else? These questions are the basis of what I’ve tried to point at.
There’s a selfish motive for me getting these thoughts in writing. I want the receipts when I’m right in ten years. 😇
But I want to know from you, too. What am I missing? Am I projecting, too wishful, completely wrong?
PS - Sorry for the day-late post. I started training for a new job (fun) which meant I fell just a bit behind my typical deadline (not fun).
We’ll be back on schedule next week with a likely change of subject.
Tim
I hope it's going well with your new work. I also don't pick up the phone unless I know it's my loved ones or doctors lol. I also don't have a cell phone!