Problems of the printed word in Russia and its readers

Foreword

This article is 20% inspired by a Google article stupid us? What the Internet does with our brain is 10% the topic in LJ about coproeconomics , 5% with an unbearable lightness of being , and 65% is me so clever.

Introduction

Many note, in addition to the generally visible and regular decline in interest in reading, also the physiological and psychological difficulties arising in reading and perception of long texts (more than a few paragraphs, pages). Several publications have already been written on this topic of varying degrees of erroneousness, engagement and admiration for changes in the mind and lifestyle of a 21st century person.

In fact, this phenomenon has objective reasons that become apparent after reading them. (we will familiarize with reference to the post-Soviet space)
')

Brief history of the printed word

In the 19th century, the press (and writing in general, by and large) was accessible only to a select few: the scientific, pedagogical, political, journalistic elite. In the 20th century, universal literacy descended, but technical and social restrictions allowed the world to see only works belonging to a pen (or a typewriter) of leading scientists, educators, and publicists. Therefore, the printed materials were of high quality, and a stereotype was formed in the subconscious: “The printed is true, the printed is useful, the printed is interesting.”


Who believes that he understands how everything has changed, can immediately move on to the "Consequences"

List of changes

In the 21st century, typography and the press confidently became commercialized, and, moreover, the Internet became a powerful channel for conveying the printed word to the audience. Rarely the benefits are not accompanied by disadvantages. Not without them, and in this issue. The luxury of publishing has become available to everyone, including those who do not possess the professional and personal qualities necessary to produce high-quality material in every sense.

Content changes

1) Fallacy . Since the thoughts conveyed to the public in the texts do not always belong to professionals, they often contain semantic errors. It occurs everywhere: from educational and scientific literature to posts on forums.
2a) Falsity . It can be considered a special case of fallacy. Publications are often beneficial to someone, and in order to make them even more profitable, you need to pretty much lie. Occurs in the media, press releases, advertising and other sources.
2b) Manipulativity . One of the most common forms of falsehood, consisting in the misinterpretation of well-known facts, the author’s aggressive attempt to change the reader’s world view, to take advantage of his psychological weaknesses for a deeper and fuller insight into his consciousness. Manipulativity is found starting from publications in biased media and ending with sectarian literature.
3) understatement . Very often the publication does not reveal the topic to the end. On the one hand, this is due to the low level of authors, on the other hand, this is due to the marketing policy of authors and publishers - to leave the consumer unsatisfied with him to buy another book, read another publication. Naturally, suffering the same lack.
4) Repetition . Since the number of publications has increased dramatically, then thousands of people write thousands of publications on the same topic. At the same time, approaching the analysis from the same side and reaching the same depth of analysis (including in accordance with p3, leave the reader unsatisfied). As a result, a mass of texts are formed that are different in form, but almost identical in content.
5) Blur . This is the third feature of the commercialized printed word. Thick book can be sold more expensive, for a long article to get a higher fee, and a long message on the forum can attract more attention. But there are usually not so many useful thoughts. As a result, the author begins to pour water. And some just suffer graphomania.
6) Cheating expectations . Often in our hands or on the screen is the text, which to a large extent does not meet our expectations. This happens either as a result of unfair advertising in any form (banner, hyperlink, book abstract, advertisement in the media), or as a result of erroneous recommendation (erroneous issuance of a document by a search engine, advice from a friend, etc.)

Shape changes

7) The unsystematic presentation . “In order to say a few words, it is necessary to link them yet!” And many authors do not tire themselves with drawing up a plan of narration and delineating its boundaries. The result is a text with vague logic of presentation and inexplicable transitions between topics. This is especially true for custom texts, when you need to "forcibly" insert a certain information block into a completely inappropriate topic.
8a) Non-literary . Texts are not just not proofreading, they are not read at all and are not checked. As a result, the mass of errors and literary defects that impede reading and reduce the credibility of the author and the text.
8b) Translation . Many of the original materials are written in foreign languages, and in the native language they appear thanks to the efforts of translators (often volunteers). Lack of knowledge of the language, insufficient experience of such work and lack of interest in literary editing of the text, leads to the fact that the text contains characteristic "artifacts" of the translation in addition to all the defects that the text had in the original.
9) Traditional brevity . Advertising, traditions of press release preparation, micro-notes, sms, are taught to perceive short and ultrashort texts with pseudo-information completeness. Compared to them, long texts seem tedious.

Other important factors

10a) Non-directional text to the audience . Ideas about the market are pushing many to try to write texts aimed at the widest possible audience. As a result, in the text, in addition to new and understandable materials, there are both obvious and well-known moments for a particular reader, and completely incomprehensible.
10b) The reader's unwillingness to perceive . This lack of readiness may be widespread: the reader is very busy, in a bad mood, but more often than not the amount of the reader’s knowledge and the proposed text. And the requirements for the reader are extremely rare (who wants to intentionally narrow the audience of his message?)
11) Poor ecology, smoking and alcohol in any quantities reduce mental abilities, disrupt perception and frustrate attention. (Besides chocolate sweets with liquor, because I love them very much)

The presence of text defects (1-10) may not be consciously determined, but in any case it is recorded by the subconscious mind creating an incomprehensible desire to stop reading.

Effects

1. A significant part of the printed information (books, press, Internet) are very poor quality texts that are objectively difficult to read for various reasons.
2. Under current conditions, a positive stereotype reflex: “Reading is good” begins to break down, depriving us of the ability to focus on reading without exerting effort.

What to do? Findings.

To readers

Observe reading hygiene in particular and personal information space hygiene in general. Do not read everything. Read only high-quality literature and journalism. Do not conduct empty conversations.

To writers

Do not be careless about writing texts. Work conscientiously, just train yourself to it. Do not write about what you do not know. Do not rip, do not pull the rubber, open the topic. Consider the logic of the message. Do not litter the Internet with meaningless messages, repetitions, excessive attention and offtopic.

Publishers and webmasters.

Counteract the appearance of low-quality content. Oh, at least do not contribute. In addition to webmasters: monitor the quality of user-generated content, manage discussions, form a community of site users who will be inclined to produce a high-quality information product. Equip a communicative platform with the means for fruitful discussion (a linear sheet of comments after each article is not that).

Thanks for attention.
I invite you to discuss.