TL;DR: We have access to more things to read than ever before. Too much, in fact. Our reading habits have shifted. We skim a lot. We look for full stories baked into headlines. Our eyes bounce around from one article to the next, and we try and fail to manage how many things we read at once. Some of us can no longer concentrate on a book—no matter how good it might be. Reading has changed. And we’re changing alongside it.
With host Manoush Zomorodi, Derek Thompson at the Atlantic talks headlines; Ernie Smith from Tedium rails against our bad browser tab habits; librarian rock star Nancy Pearl makes the case for analog books; Beth Rogowsky discusses if audiobooks can replace reading; and Nate Weiner from Mozilla’s Pocket shows us one way we can manage our reading overload. Happy New Year — let’s get working on that “I will read more this year” resolution.
IRL is an original podcast from Mozilla. For more on the series go to irlpodcast.org.
With so many possible articles to read every day online, it can be hard to sort through what to read and what to skip. Help yourself — give Pocket a try, the app and web service featured in today’s episode. Pocket brings you human curated articles that are selected to inspire, inform, and motivate you. Learn more.
Ernie Smith's manifesto to those of us make reading promises we cannot possibly keep is here. Like his style? Sign up for his Tedium newsletter.
We mention a bunch of books in this IRL episode — here they are: Solitude by Michael Harris, The End of Absence by Michael Harris, Bored and Brilliant by Manoush Zomorodi,
Hit Makers by Derek Thompson, Book Lust books by Nancy Pearl.
Want more? Mozilla has teamed up with 826 Valencia to bring you perspectives written by students on IRL topics this season. Cymreiy P. from De Marillac Academy wrote this piece on clickbait and homework.
And, check out this article from Common Sense Media, on how to teach your children about clickbait.
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