Why don't Americans read anymore?
Is it because we're lazy or have we lost the art of reading comprehension? Perhaps we just don't have time these days or find slogging through a lengthy text to be a mind numbing experience.
National Public Radio posted a similar headline to mine on it's Facebook page a couple days ago and got hundreds of replies to that seemingly simple query. Their motive was much less inquisitive than it was a sort of social experiment. The date of the posting on the 1st of this month was more than a mere coincidence, and I suggest you read on.
NPR set out to prove how a great number of people who surf the internet do so for provocative titles and jump right to the comment section to add their nickel. It used to be two cents, but with the advent of the web, our opinions have become inflationary in importance. Everyone wants to be heard and choose to ignore the rambling opinions of others. Anyone who ever created a thread on DU knows that many people just jump in to criticize and know from the comment that the person never read the post.
For those who got this far, or if you already have an inkling to what's going on, I strongly suggest you go to the link below and find out what the brilliant motive was behind NPR's headline:
http://www.uproxx.com/filmdrunk/2014/04/npr-april-fools-day-prank-facebook/
Once again, please don't post a reply until you go to that article. Others can just K&R if they wish and find out if people really do read before commenting. For those who fall for it, I confess that I've been guilty of the same offense before, so don't take it personally.
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Thank you for seeing the value of the videogame medium.
I understand your point & it was unfair for me to totally put down 'text only' mediums.
I just didn't want quinnox to do that same ol' "back in my day" routine that happens with every generation when they reach a certain age.
Went too far trying to make my point.
It's easy for the older generation to put down what the young folks are into.
BUT as you point out it's ALSO easy for the younger generation to dismiss what the old folks established.
We can learn from each other.
Kids are learning from comic books/comic strips & videogames right now. So go where the kids are.
Put the message in the forms they can relate to.
Half the stuff on the movie screens deals with comic characters & videogame characters nowadays.
J.K. Rowling made text-only books come alive with Harry Potter by using material that is appealing to younger generations without talking down to them or preaching to them.
Whatever we produce we must use each medium to express it not dismiss the medium just because.
Maybe a story could be told through Instagram. Who knows?
We can still use books, theater & older forms of media for expression ALONG with the newer media.
I definitely agree with you about good stories.
That's the whole purpose behind all of this in the end.
The oldest media was just people sitting around talking to each other after all.
Thank you for keeping me from falling into the young fogey trap.
John Lucas
Especially since we're talking about different versions of... talking around a campfire, ultimately.
You'll have to be careful about railing against 3-D virtual reality games when you're older! 
(The actual problem there is if immersive artificial realities are used to keep people even more distracted from what's happening around them in "real reality," but I get ahead of myself...! )
... They won't come back to check, or if they don't read the replies in a thread, they'll never know my overly worded post was part of an exercise of sorts.
I didn't mean to insult or belittle anyone here, but everytime I've posted an original piece, I swore it would be my last. I spend much of the ensuing discussion referring back to my OP.. which I always suspected they'd never read. Now I'm sure, and I feel somehow better for it. It's easier to overlook critics when I know they have no idea what I said.
to NPR. They always get in a good one.
and then read this:
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Nice one, sir. 
