New York Times Quiz:
I thought I had the New York Times quiz in the bag… I—to my surprise—did not.
Despite reading the words in each ad and trying to correlate them with the account that posted it; despite looking at how many likes a post received; despite examining the ad’s imagery in and of itself, I only got a mere two out of four questions correct. I absolutely couldn’t determine which posts were “real.” As someone with a hefty media diet, I normally pride myself on being able to parse these sorts of things apart, but I couldn't here.
However, I doubt that I would ever come across such an ad on Facebook. My “following” list is carefully curated on all social media (although, this quiz does prove that “fake” news/ads is/are possible in various iterations). But, this is especially concerning to me in relation to those in my life who don’t have so much discretion in how they participate in media. If someone who is on the internet almost constantly can’t figure these things out, who can?
Reading:
When I think about the way the internet has changed my reading habits, the first thing that comes to mind is attention span, which is now terribly short if I’m reading an article online. It’s tabs that trip me up. I’ll be reading a page of text when my eye inevitably averts to a tab across the top of my screen. Maybe its Instagram, online banking, or an article I’ve been meaning to read for five days. Regardless, it can snap me out of the zone I need to be in to adequately comprehend a text.
As a result, I have tried to put some strategies in place to keep my mind where it needs to be when reading digitally: on my laptop, I have 30-minute time limits on Instagram, Facebook, Twitter, and YouTube; I try to physically distance myself from my cell phone (even if that just means putting it at the bottom of my bag, instead of on the table next to me); and I try to keep a pen and paper beside me, so I don’t always have to switch out of my reading screen and into a Word Doc or Google Doc to record notes.
My book reading is similar, but more manageable. Since I don’t have to worry about my eyes averting to tabs, apps, or notifications, I can sink into a book much easier than a digital article. However, my phone rule still applies.
Closing Thoughts:
Lastly, I wanted to point to an excerpt from this week’s Cezzar reading which resonated with me:
Hold tightly to an identity beyond an icon and a typeface, and you risk being undiscoverable, hidden, and disconnected; prioritize distribution and speed, and you risk being impossible to recognize or distinguish, a state that is especially perilous for a young publication seeking to establish any kind of identity. It feels safer, in the end, to keep it tucked away in a text file until the uncertainty clears.
It’s the last line that sank in for me, as it seems to echo the paralysis I have found over the past couple of years: wanting to publish something, but not knowing how, where, or, sometimes, why..? With so many options in the digital landscape, sometimes more is actually less.
And my Blurb book is here.