Stab a Book, the Book Won't Die | Craig Mod
Stab a Book, the Book Won't Die by Craig Mod is a great read on the value of physical books. He presents an interesting idea that I've never thought of before — entering into contracts with the media that we consume.
What kind of contract do you opt into when reading a physical book? What about reading a blog? Or watching a YouTube video? Or what about consuming content through social media news feeds?
The simplest contract can be had with physical books. You buy the book and you can read it anytime you want. The book will not try to harvest your data, or serve you ads, or track your habits, or build an online profile out of your online activities. The book will be there for you to read, when you want to read it. It is as simple a contract as can be.
On the other hand, using say your smartphone to read books, blog posts, essays is a totally different contract. Now you're exposed to ads. Now your behavior is being tracked. Now your data is getting mined, etc... All sorts of things happen behind the scenes, some of which we most likely don't even want to be involved in.
It's a good reminder to re-examine the contracts that we are entering into, when we choose to consume information the way that we do today.
Tags: #Bookmarks #Books