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Comment by dec0dedab0de | Hacker News Reader

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dec0dedab0de

Maybe reading books is less important than ever, and the kids are adapting to the new world.

I am reminded of this xkcd, which I just realized Im about a decade behind on.

https://xkcd.com/1414/

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I understand the gist of the comic, but don't think it truly applies.

Each generation has ups and downs compared to those that came before it. In recent times, short tik toks do seem to be detrimental by leading the brain to focus on receiving constant doses of dopamine instead of focusing on something like a book which requires much more focus.

I'm not saying the sky is falling, but it's different from the introduction of newspapers and radio and TV and even gaming. In the 60s I guess you'd watch a program with your family at night (like Andy Griffith). You weren't raised on monetized YouTube ads and then watching Tiktok all day. I don't think they're adapting at all, but not learning the necessary skills to hold a job. This isn't all Gen Z, but a lot have trouble focusing for extended periods of time, not to mention challenges with communication and socializing.

Reading could be less important if reaching one's IQ potential is less important. The content doesn't matter much, aside from basic literature references that constitute a part of English literacy. Though, relatively more complex style and a wider range of vocabulary helps. But a volume of reading is indisputably a developmental accelerant. At least up until the brain slows its development in the mid-twenties.

literacy is only important if you don't want to live a subsistence poverty lifestyle. other than that, completely useless.

There's not just one kind of literacy though. I have no problem reading books or blog posts on HN, but someone handed me a research article and I realised I struggled to understand it at all and had to re read and concentrate hard. Almost like there was some kind of performative obtuseness to the writing to appeal to an in group of other researchers.

> I have no problem reading books or blog posts on HN, but someone handed me a research article and I realised I struggled to understand it at all and had to re read and concentrate hard. Almost like there was some kind of performative obtuseness to the writing to appeal to an in group of other researchers.

I read all the time, research papers included. What I discovered is that when I arm tired in the afternoons I can read and reread a paper and not really understand much, but if I read a paper first thing in the morning I never have to reread it for understanding.

language is one of the basic mechanisms for social differentiation and status. in academia specialized language is how different disciplines are differentiated and abstruse literary references are how people demonstrate their knowledge and status in the field.

knowing how to read ("knowing your letters") is not literacy. from an academic perspective the majority of the population is illiterate.

Knowing how to read is partial literacy and the first step toward literacy, regardless of anyone's lust for pretense. From an academic perspective most academics are illiterate.

This is just wrong.

Ordinary language is highly ambiguous, so specific domains have to use words that have been disambiguated for the domain so that people inside the domain can clearly communicate with each other.

Two chemist aren't doing performance art talking to each other because I am uneducated in chemistry so can't follow the conversation.

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