Bring back the ritual
Sitting in a classroom in Pullman (in 1982), I listened to the late Val Limburg, a long tenured and respected WSU professor of communications, give a lecture on the dramatic and major changes that were going to come to the world of media. Val spoke to how it would be delivered, who would own it, who was going pay for it and what it might look like.
Virtually everything Val talked about has transpired (some more successfully than others). Additionally, many more changes have come about that weren’t even dreamed of until long after Val was done teaching that class. Most of it has resulted in all of us reading less (of course not you, the reader of this column!)
The world continues to change overnight. What we see and when we see it, how we see it and how we hear it – the message changes almost instantaneously. I got to thinking how we (I) as consumers of this information have changed.
When I lived in the bay area I read three newspapers every day. Today, I have access to the entire world’s news. I skim 15 or more websites each day, as well as tens of RSS feeds, yet I read much less than I did before.
Why? Because reading the paper was a ritual – it was my time. The Internet feels much less personal. It feels like I “gotta get on, get what I need and get off.”
Maybe the most recent technology (better screen resolutions, page-turning simulations, Kindles, Nooks and tablets you can hold like a book) will bring some of that personalization back to reading.
Maybe.
In the end, it is about reading. Not just for ourselves, but for our family, our community and our kids. So read the paper (ours is a good one), a magazine or a Dr. Seuss book to your kids.
Friday Fish Wrap (with the usual homage to Herb Caen)
Jason Reid back” in the game and looking for tee times, next month. ……Ralph Stevens, apparently sighted ….. Courtney Givins working the Secretary’s staff while touring the Capitol with LCC….. …..Michael Holt always a gracious host and putting on the best breakfast spread in the county at the New Phoenix…..Troy Van Dinter keeping his proofreader’s pen busy….. Pat Dulin doing his thing on the grill and filling the front of the house for lunch…..Suzy Taylor, providing the Celtic atmosphere in the commander’s bar .. ….. Bob Durgan providing a little light reading for my hiatus…..Dr. Stephen Southerland hemming and hawing but agreeing to go ahead….. Jen Buscher — championship coach!
