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Reading plain text
October 14th, 2018
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While reading moji's phlog [0] I started considering how I read on
gopher, or in plain text in general versus my methods on the web.
Certainly I do more scanning in a web browser, which I attribute
at least partially to the various font and style treatments that
both allow for and promote the bite-sized ingestion of content.
There is also an element of reading fatigue that plays out
differently here in plain text, and thats where my mind went (not
to say that moji was in any way tiring).
When I'm tired of reading on gopher it is instantly apparent.
I skim over blocks of text looking for something to jump out at
me, but that isnt how it works. Warning claxxons blare in my brain
and I shut down figuratively and literally. It's clear I need to
do something else and come back later. I get no such signal on the
web. I peruse long past the point of usefulness. I trade reading
for browsing. Surfing becomes skimming. Infinite scroll is
infinitely useless.
My time in text is short and productive in the sense that I get
something from it, whether information or entertainment. My time
on the web offers sone of that, but the trappings are extreme and
it is all too easy to give more time than necessary or helpful.
This is intentional. Capitalism demands attention, and it is that
monstrosity which guides the design patterns on port 80. Even
informational sites follow the patterns because that is what
drives engagement. Look at the analytics, measure your performance
goals. How do we keep them longer? How do we show them more ads?
How do we get them to spend a little more?
I'm sick of environmental leeches. I want my landscapes clear and
clean. Mow down the billboards and flashing neon and let me get
where I'm going on my own terms, please.
There is no way out on the web. The experience is condemned to
these patterns. People scream when you try to pull that bandage
off. They demand more convenience despite the cost. The masses
want to live like this. We're the weirdos for questioning it.
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