The Roots We Share
One of my major struggles as a professor was always getting students to read. It's difficult to relate to the attitude since I became a reader myself, but I remember the resistance as an undergraduate. There were too many other things I wanted to be doing, and I didn't even have TikTok or Instagram to suck up the rare gaps in my days.
(A collaborative drawing from HEADTUBE zine by me and Sean Walling.)
When talking about our interactions with media, my friend Doug Rushkoff uses the remote control as a metaphor. The remote was the first invention that allowed interactive television viewing, and in the process, it changed the way we consumed the medium. Instead of wanting to see what's on, we want to see what else is on. The habit has carried over into every medium since. We scroll through our feeds not looking for something to read, but to make sure we don't need to read anything. This is how students approach reading for class. They don't set out a time to do the reading. They skim the material to make sure they don't need to read it. The only way to get them to read is to test them on the material. If I ask them to read something so we can discuss it in the next class meeting, a small fraction of them will. If I tell them to read something because I'm going to give them a quiz on it in the next class meeting, all of them but a small fraction will. The problem is that students don't like taking tests, and I never liked grading them. How do we get to the good stuff without all of these contrived assessments? We have to work together.
Another example: While legitimizing the downloading of music was one of the hurdles that Apple faced with record labels when introducing iTunes, another was the breaking up of the CD into individual songs. Record labels had long been making billions off of record, tape, and CD sales. Individual hit songs were mere marketing, advertisements for the CD. What Apple wanted to do legitimized downloading but broke down the price structure of the millennial record industry. Instead of buying 15-18 songs for $17.99, now listeners could buy just the song they wanted for $.99. It streamlined the process for listeners but cut out massive profits for the labels. Full-length records didn't go away completely, but now there are other options for music fans.
I remember reading some years ago that a successful direct-mail campaign, that is a physical mailing of postcards advertising some good or service, had a 2% response rate. That means that 98% of the materials and effort of a successful campaign were wasted. These mailings still exist, but email has revolutionized such campaigns. With such a reduced overhead, the response rate of a successful spam campaign must be infinitesimal.
Anyway, I've been thinking about these shifts in media consumption and the subsequent waste in the context of writing. Unlike records or CDs, which are clunky and inconvenient at best, books are an unimprovable technology, but now there are other options. There are blogs and tweets and newsletters and other media altogether. As readers and writers, we have so many more options. Reading and writing are collaborative. As readers, how do we cut out the crap and get to the good stuff? As writers, how do we streamline the process of reaching readers?
I have noticed more and more our unwillingness to meet each other halfway, to see things from another's point of view. Not just as readers and writers, but as humans sharing a ball of dirt in space. It’s an inability that borders on abject refusal. The example I always use is the one time I went to a personal trainer. I had a free consultation with my climbing-gym membership in Chicago, so I went. As the guy asked me questions and ran me through exercises, he slowly stopped listening to what I was saying and put me into one of his pre-planned regimens. He already knew what he thought I needed before he even weighed me in.
The same thing happens with coworkers, teachers, students, editors, employers, friends, everyone. We need to be more able to break out of our own views and see things from others. If not, we are doomed. It’s not just empathy. It's being able to completely drop your own agenda and understand someone else's views and goals. Communication is a collaboration. We have to work together.
(RESET Mercantile logo sticker, as designed by me and Justin April.)
Collaboration is not compromise, it's a chance to make a connection. Cooperation is not a problem to solve, it's an opportunity to understand. Together we can make everything better, or as I plan to cross-stitch on a throw pillow:
The fruits we bear are made sweeter by the roots we share.
Happy Labor Day! More news soon.
Hope you’re well,
-royc.
http://roychristopher.com