> Also note that this specifically focuses on blogs designed to make money and dealing with general-interest stuff like fashion or travel. A lot of this has moved onto Instagram and TikTok as a byproduct of people using phones as their primary "content consumption" devices

This needs to be repeated ad nauseum on HN.

For most people (especially those not working in jobs which require heavy amounts of writing, analysis, and reading), text is NOT the default method with which they interact and communicate information.

TikTok, IG reels, YouTube shorts, longer form YouTube content, podcasts, television, etc all feel "easier" and more "natural" for the vast majority of people.

▲

mananaysiempre 4 hours ago | parent | next [-]

Why does it need to be repeated? It is clear enough that the blogging era was a bit of an atypical period, that much is true; but why, on a website called Hacker News, should I need to care about what most people choose to do with their lives? Yes, in reality it’s partly VC News, but the mandate is intellectual curiosity, which most people have had beaten out of them by the time they were fourteen. Some amount of disdain for what most people end up doing by default, for what’s normal, etc., is absolutely instrumental to not having that happen to you.

(For what little it’s worth, and in the spirit of aforementioned curiosity: nausea gives you ad nauseam; with some caveats, a Latin noun in the singular governed by the preposition ad gets the ending -m while retaining the final vowel of its stem.)

▲

TFNA 4 hours ago | parent [-]

Even most of my nerd friends are consuming less and less longform text. It has been years now since budding hackers can pick up their coding skills through YT videos and now TikTok, and suggesting they read through longform documentation or an OReilly book just makes one look out of touch. HN's audience is as susceptible to the trend the GP mentions as anyone else.

▲

pona-a 3 hours ago | parent [-]

I'm currently learning electronics, as well as having just recently sat my Physics/Math finals. I can tell you with 100% certainty you CAN'T learn shit from /just/ video.

Actual learning requires you to think about what you just read, maybe re-read it multiple times, stop to try and solve a example problem, etc - all of which require you to stop/rewind which video inherently disfavors.

Besides, I think just like handwritten notes might have a slightly different neurological effect than typed ones, reading might just be a very different mental muscle more connected to comprehension; humans had oral language for much longer than any script, so maybe it came with some different connections to higher brain structures as well.

▲

hluska 3 hours ago | parent [-]

The only thing you’re saying with “certainty” is that you personally cannot learn only from video. Anything else is pure hubris.

	▲	cwmoore 2 hours ago \| parent [-]
		I’ll say this with certainty, video is terrible reference material. Talk me through something the first time, sure, but if I need to look something up (yes, I know asking an LLM is available) I want a comprehensive subject guide, mostly in text, searchable by actual keywords.

▲

inigyou 43 minutes ago | parent | prev | next [-]

Video feels easier to consume but is it really easier to produce one that people find easy to consume?

▲

coldtea 4 hours ago | parent | prev | next [-]

>TikTok, IG reels, YouTube shorts, longer form YouTube content, podcasts, television, etc all feel "easier" and more "natural" for the vast majority of people.

That's not exactly neutral though, but part of a larger theme of regression from literacy to a visual and oral culture (and a dopamine seeking junky one).

▲

bobthepanda 5 hours ago | parent | prev [-]

Audio is just easier to multitask with than reading.

▲

HDBaseT 2 hours ago | parent | next [-]

Audio may feel easier to multitask with, but how much do you actually retain?

	▲	hombre_fatal 10 minutes ago \| parent [-]
		One of the nicest things about multitasking audio is that it's easier to concentrate for a long time since I'm busying my body. If I'm sitting down to read, my body thinks I'm trying to take a nap.

▲

bediger4000 4 hours ago | parent | prev [-]

This appears to be true for a plurality, or maybe just barely a majority of people.

I don't find audio so easily multi-tasks, unless we're using different definitions. My example: I find it very difficult to do something described in an audio or video format - rewire a light switch, say. I find it way easier to have text with a diagram. I can stop and check the text at any time. I find it easier to go back to previous sentences, than to rewind an audio or video.

▲

bobthepanda 3 hours ago | parent [-]

When i say multitask I mean that more literally. If you’re driving you can’t read, if you’re a passenger on public transit audio won’t make you motion sick, if you are cooking or cleaning you can have it on in the background, etc.

Reading requires the full use of your eyes, no way around that.

	▲	bediger4000 an hour ago \| parent [-]
		Fair enough - we have different definitions. If I have audio on while driving or cooking or cleaning, I can only half listen, I miss a lot. I have to be very careful with what I listen to while driving, lest it take my attention away from the road, so I only half agree with you.