Love this video - one of my favorite essays of yours so far! As someone who has long preferred nonfiction in leisure reading, I’ve been reflecting on this idea a lot over the last year. A major takeaway for me, personally, has been trying to find books with actionable items/steps (for example, All We Can Save for climate change or Laziness Does Not Exist for deconstructing capitalist notions of productivity = value) to follow up on. And for those that don’t, evaluating my own ability to put action steps into place. Okay, I read about the experiences of unhoused folks in my city. Now what can I do with time, money, or work based on that knowledge? It has meant reframing how I approach and interact with a medium to have it be one step of a process rather than the end goal itself. And it doesn’t come naturally for me. Historically I have felt accomplished merely because I learned about a topic - when really I should have felt like i was just getting started. I have to actively set aside time to reflect on a book to make sure I’m hitting these steps and don’t get distracted to eventually fall into inaction.
One thing I will say I have noticed (again, speaking only for myself) is that I feel more sustained in my energy to act if I read a book on a topic instead of seek out social justice spaces on IG (spaces i actively sought out before). Largely, this seems to be a case of overconsumption/information fatigue. While a page can be a great resource, scrolling through my feed to interact with bite-sized infographics on a variety of truly urgent social issues combined with the other pitfalls of ig scrolling left me exhausted and hopeless. It wasn’t conductive, for me, to feel motivated to take action. Instead, I would cycle through thinking of all of the topics I had just read about and feel even more isolated or aware of my limited impact as an individual. Whereas, with books, sitting with a topic for days and reading (often) about the collective action around movements can leave me feeling energized and almost as if, over the time I had been reading the book, I was already becoming part of that community (or aware enough to join). Rather than being a side effect of online activism itself, I think it is just the structure of the app and how the algorithm dishes out content.
Personal experiences aside, the fact that we have so many spaces to suit the needs, learning styles, and interests of those wanting to learn more is incredible. It certainly shouldn’t matter how folks prefer to become informed - only that we know what to do next and feel empowered to do it.