The displacement of reading by Twitter is real. I joined Twitter quite late in the game. Before that, I would fill the little interstitial periods throughout the day by reading. In the old days, with a paperback in my pocket, latterly with a phone. After Musk acquired Twitter, he promoted several reasons for me to use it less. Even without an app to track it, it's quite obvious I'm getting more reading done.
Yes. There is a sense in which Twitter provides the illusion of a conversation without actually having one. And there is a sense in which reading a book provides the same subsequent experience gain of a dialogue without the appearance of one.
Good to hear about Berkeley and NorCal generally. We've been doing pretty well here in LA but I'm still hoping that the predictions for this week are borne out and put a real dent in the drought.
I find hypocritical that "Islamophobia" can get a professor fired from Berkley. (It should also be noted that truth is not allowed as a defense for such offenses.) In contrast there is no equivalent word for hatred of Christians. Rather Christians can be openly ridiculed for belief in God, opposition to gay marriage, opposition to liberal abortion laws, etc. Ironically these same criticisms could be made of Muslims; but that would be Islamophobic.
The displacement of reading by Twitter is real. I joined Twitter quite late in the game. Before that, I would fill the little interstitial periods throughout the day by reading. In the old days, with a paperback in my pocket, latterly with a phone. After Musk acquired Twitter, he promoted several reasons for me to use it less. Even without an app to track it, it's quite obvious I'm getting more reading done.
Yes. There is a sense in which Twitter provides the illusion of a conversation without actually having one. And there is a sense in which reading a book provides the same subsequent experience gain of a dialogue without the appearance of one.
That had not occurred to me, that Twitter and book reading might be complementary. Sounds right though.
Good to hear about Berkeley and NorCal generally. We've been doing pretty well here in LA but I'm still hoping that the predictions for this week are borne out and put a real dent in the drought.
I find hypocritical that "Islamophobia" can get a professor fired from Berkley. (It should also be noted that truth is not allowed as a defense for such offenses.) In contrast there is no equivalent word for hatred of Christians. Rather Christians can be openly ridiculed for belief in God, opposition to gay marriage, opposition to liberal abortion laws, etc. Ironically these same criticisms could be made of Muslims; but that would be Islamophobic.