This passage is profound: "There’s a big cognitive commitment involved in sitting down and physically reading a book or newspaper. It is a slow (in the Kahneman sense) and deliberative assimilation of information that’s just different from rapidly scrolling through social media posts."
We can take the idea even further. When I was a reporter in my first Internet job, my boss was disappointed with me because I didn't share his excitement for personalization. It was something that I believed (completely instinctually) would cause minds to narrow. I loved newspapers and magazines because they would surprise me with ideas foreign to my own. Even if we discretely do intelligent work on our Substacks, our readers are just island hopping. Nor does any Substack, no matter how large, possess the weight of a well-funded publication. Important things have been snapped from the center of the culture by the new media economy's long tail.
That said, we needn't view ourselves as designated mourners for the culture that was. We should still turn out important work, and I'm sure you will, Chris. Good luck with this next phase of your journalism!
Thank you for the comment, Darren. I feel very much the same. I'd add that the value of journalistic colleagues and teams at traditional publications is very real and probably the thing I miss most. But yes, we can still do good work on our own!
This passage is profound: "There’s a big cognitive commitment involved in sitting down and physically reading a book or newspaper. It is a slow (in the Kahneman sense) and deliberative assimilation of information that’s just different from rapidly scrolling through social media posts."
We can take the idea even further. When I was a reporter in my first Internet job, my boss was disappointed with me because I didn't share his excitement for personalization. It was something that I believed (completely instinctually) would cause minds to narrow. I loved newspapers and magazines because they would surprise me with ideas foreign to my own. Even if we discretely do intelligent work on our Substacks, our readers are just island hopping. Nor does any Substack, no matter how large, possess the weight of a well-funded publication. Important things have been snapped from the center of the culture by the new media economy's long tail.
That said, we needn't view ourselves as designated mourners for the culture that was. We should still turn out important work, and I'm sure you will, Chris. Good luck with this next phase of your journalism!
Thank you for the comment, Darren. I feel very much the same. I'd add that the value of journalistic colleagues and teams at traditional publications is very real and probably the thing I miss most. But yes, we can still do good work on our own!
I know. The best editors just give so much. No replacing that.
I first got my foot in the door in 2010, which explains why I'm now a copywriter studying physical therapy part-time. Whoops!
Glad you are here Chris!
Thank you Pamela! Thanks so much for sharing
You’re quite welcome.