Technolandy

Day 25 (of 2026/27) everything old is new again… beauty over reading… Alix Earle @alixearle being  honest… share via India McTaggart  @indiamctaggart 

Interesting article about pride in not reading… https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2026/10/02/gen-z-has-a-bizarre-new-heroine-an-influencer-who-cant-read/ and showing how there are more ways than ever to communicate beyond printed text…

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But the subtext made me ponder (undoubtably connected to my reading Boundless Deep – a book on Alfred, Lord Tennyson) back to my university studies into some aspects of the Arthurian legends, blah blah blah and how in many instances, ones beauty could overcome a myriad of troublesome red flags. (Rabbit hole dive: Guinevere/Lady of Shallott who could do no wrong as they had a pretty face…) 

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Repeated in paintings of the time. 

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In poetry and novels.

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And now through social medias.

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The article points out the problem/example of becoming a near post-literate society…

Though I wonder if our focus on ‘literate’ is too narrow.

When information was solely accessible by decoding alphabets, absolutely.

And I’m a librarian – reading is cool

For most… but certainly not all… and not because they don’t want to… 

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So I laugh when the article says ‘in this attention economy’ we appear to value beat, palatability, relatability etc when authors like Tennyson, Browning, Dickens, Shakespeare, Chaucer all made similar observations as well… and likely well before these thoughts were archived thanks to gutenbergs machine.

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Alix Earle is just making the secrets we would prefer stay in the shadows… be seen in the light. 

Targeting the OG format of communication

The method that if Socrates had YouTube likely would mean that there would be no alphabets as we know it

The power of presence

And voice

Listening and speaking

Information not limited to what is binded between hard covers

And sometimes hidden on obscure book shelf placements

But open and transparent

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Why read a novel?

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I have my reasons. 

I love reading.

Some in my family agree…

Others liken it to a form of torture.

Yet are still knowledgeable

(In no small part, to the … wait for it… ‘power of YouTube’ – as was declared by a 10 year old who had an unnatural amount of knowledge on a bizarre topic that I don’t think we ever talked about beyond that moment…)

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36% of youth enjoy reading in their spare time.

It was 51% when my own children were starting school…

We like to pretend it was higher in the before times…

But I remember many of my peers dreading silent reading time

And not enjoying the weekly visit to the library…

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A focus on ‘learning to read so you can read to learn’ was well intentioned…

But librarians shifting to learning commons (a great idea, just poorly interpreted) did not help

In hindsight, we asked librarians to do more

And ‘others’ liked that trend

(Probably because of their own actual dislike of reading)

Even had a great wonder online:

Reader A reads Nietzsche 

Reader B reads Dostoyevsky 

Reader C reads romance novels

—> who is the most likely to understand human nature?

Kids need to read more Dogman.

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I love the pleas at the end of the article to ‘please read’ because great points are made that I agree with:

Comment.       Author.       (Landy book recommendation) 

You will be torn to shreds by Dostoevsky (Brothers Karamazov)

Believe in love with Jane Austen (sense and sensibility)

Laugh out loud at Nora Ephor’s hints (when harry met sally)

Cry at the love letters between Albert Camus and Maria Casares (have read parts of Correspondance in the past)

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Walk through southern India and torments of mother daughter relationships with Arundhati Roy (the god of small things)

Experience Sonia Purnells seduction of powerful men by Pemala Harriman (Kingmaker)

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Ache at Leonard Cohen’s poetry (the language… in Stranger Music)

Explore felinity and ambition with Sylvia Plath (the emotion…. in Poems)

And get lost in time and space with Carlo Rovelli (the concepts… On the Equality of All Things is on my ‘to read shelf’)

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And you still choose not to open the book?

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Great ending to the article. For those of us who read along…

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So… is listening to audiobook reading? (I love this debate)

If so… what is the difference between that and social media?

If not… why not?