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Powered by 🌱Roam GardenThe rise of non-linear writing
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How can we still engage with ideas as our ability to sustain linear focus declines?
How can we write and convey complex ideas?
Best accomdoate our readers as well as our own thought.
non-linear writing is not just a superior way to record information. But is more suited to our non-linear, short attention span, interactive craving minds today for consuming information also.
The link is bi-directional. We shape our tools but our tools also shape us.
Humans invent devices that change the structure of our brains, capabilities and lives.
Invention of the clock
These tools are also a double edged sword. As they increase our ability at a task with a new tool. There is a decline in our ability to do the action without the tool.
An example is calculators and our ability to do arithmetic. We were generally better as a teenager than we are now.
Using a tool that amplifies a human skill diminishes our ability to use that skill without the tool. Access to more information via the internet is no exception to that rule; it comes at the price of the skills of deeper contemplation. Edit Later
The internet has changed how our brains process information. Our ability to read in a linear way has atrophied as our ability to jump from interesting thing increases. Edit Later
Even in this post you have probably already been distracted by the links and wandered off. non-linear writing is interactive
The internet has changed the way we process information
The constant bombardment of information has changed how we cope with it all. There is too much coming in to pay attention to everything.
So we jump around. "Scanning" rather than reading. Looking for the good stuff.
We scroll down and back up. 'How long is this?' Do I need to read this part?
We suffer from a decreased attention span and ability to stick to a linear path.
New shared acronyms for this inability and desire to read large swathes of text. TLDR. Dismissive shorthand for "Too long. Didn't read".
Ever find yourself reading an article and a few minutes in you're scrolling down. Checking the scrollbar to see how much further you have to go and skipping down towards the end? Your impatience to 'finish' to 'get there'.
We, like Socrates, can bemoan this change. But that won't stop it happening. So what can we do to keep the attention of modern readers? Embrace new forms which harness the way our minds are now wired to function.
hypertext has changed everything.
But we are still awkwardly consuming prose in a form we're no longer adapted to.
We are yet to explore these new forms properly and take advantage of all they are capable of.
Not just a more effective way to write. It's a more engaging way to read. The evolution is new and even the name has not been agreed upon.
non-linear writing provides a system not just for writing and taking notes - but also for reading. make sense now because our brains need that stimulation to jump from interesting point to point. Rather than following the linear path laid out for us. We choose our own jumping from point to point as we traverse a concept.
Traditional writing lays out a path for the reader to walk down. non-linear writing allow your readers to wander through the garden of your ideas.
"Not all who wander are lost" — J.R.R. Tolkien, The Riddle of Strider, The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring quotes
