The written word, fundamental to Western society for hundreds of years, is in retreat. Evidence for this has accumulated on different fronts, from time-use surveys to studies of cognitive processing. For a survey, read these recent articles by Sam Freedman for Comment Is Freed and John Burn-Murdoch for the Financial Times. We can debate the speed with which this is happening but no longer the direction of travel. It’s happening across societies, and the drop-off is steepest among the highly educated people who tend to constitute our elites.
We can’t pin this one on the phones since it is hardly a new trend. When Neil Postman wrote Amusing Ourselves To Death in 1985, he blamed TV for the marginalisation of writing, which he argued had had a ruinous effect on the intelligence of our political discourse. But smartphones seem to be accelerating the changes that Postman was decrying. Social media started out as text based, but the dominant platforms – TikTok and YouTube – are now primarily visual and oral/aural. The LLMs we use are text-based for now, but will probably follow the same trajectory.
The age of literacy is not literally over: the majority of people in developed nations will continue to read and write. Books will sell in large numbers for a long time to come (I hope). But the written word will not be as central to our societies as it was, and this has profound ramifications, because it isn’t just about swapping one tool of communication for another. It’s about how we use our intelligence. We can learn about where we’re headed by looking at how pre-literate people used their intelligence.
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Madison taxpayers have long supported far above average (now > $25,000 per student) K-12 tax & spending practices. This, despite long term, disastrous reading results.
Madison Schools: More $, No Accountability
The taxpayer funded Madison School District long used Reading Recovery…
The data clearly indicate that being able to read is not a requirement for graduation at (Madison) East, especially if you are black or Hispanic”
My Question to Wisconsin Governor Tony Evers on Teacher Mulligans and our Disastrous Reading Results
2017: West High Reading Interventionist Teacher’s Remarks to the School Board on Madison’s Disastrous Reading Results
Madison’s taxpayer supported K-12 school district, despite spending far more than most, has long tolerated disastrous reading results.
“An emphasis on adult employment”
Wisconsin Public Policy Forum Madison School District Report[PDF]
WEAC: $1.57 million for Four Wisconsin Senators
Friday Afternoon Veto: Governor Evers Rejects AB446/SB454; an effort to address our long term, disastrous reading results
Booked, but can’t read (Madison): functional literacy, National citizenship and the new face of Dred Scott in the age of mass incarceration.
When A Stands for Average: Students at the UW-Madison School of Education Receive Sky-High Grades. How Smart is That?