Re: LeVar Burton Was Not Wrong đđ
May. 26th, 2025 08:01 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
rynlingIn my last post I casually said that âreading makes you smarter,â but itâs probably worth explaining what that means.
Basic human intelligence can be divided into two broad categories: cognition and problem-solving. The act of reading helps develop the skills integral to both categories.
Cognition
Perception
This is a matter of accurately understanding sensory input. Basic reading comprehension is really good at developing this at a higher level. In other words, instead of seeing black marks on a white page, you perceive language that has meaning that you can understand.
Concentration
This is the ability to direct and focus your attention instead of allowing yourself to be distracted. This doesnât come naturally to most people, which is why more entertainment-focused media (like movies and video games) are the way they are, with something happening every ten seconds or less. Books require a more active focus, but a good writer will help you out.
Memory
This is the ability to retain information after it passes the threshold of short-term awareness. Being able to remember things like character names and plot details helps with this. Memory can feel passive when youâre reading an interesting story, but itâs really not. By engaging with and retaining a story, youâre literally creating neural pathways in your brain that can be activated and used in the future.
Imagination
This is the distinctly human ability to project and explore scenarios based on the previous three skills. This isnât so much âseeing vivid pictures in your head,â but rather a willingness to suspend disbelief while entertaining a fantasy (or an argument whose point isnât immediately clear).
Problem Solving
Critical thinking
This is a fancy way of saying âyou can understand the meaning behind language.â In other words, itâs the ability to understand why someone is saying something. All of the literary devices, from metaphor to irony, require critical thinking to understand properly. In addition, watching characters react to language is a way of modeling our own reactions.
Lateral thinking
This is the ability to move beyond memory and familiar patterns. To give a basic example: If your key isnât opening a door, lateral thinking helps you realize that perhaps youâre using the wrong key. Developing imagination by, for example, responding to characters (or to the author) in your head helps with this. In addition, lateral thinking requires time and space to maneuver, and the self-directed pace of books allows for this space in a way that other media often doesnât.
Emotional Regulation
This is the ability to make decisions without being overly influenced by strong and immediate emotions. Like memory, this can often feel automatic, but itâs not. When youâre tired or stressed out, for example, the strain is apparent. The concentration and catharsis of reading helps develop emotional regulation in a passive way, but I also think the more active development of empathy by seeing characters and situations from different perspectives can be useful when you need to switch your emotional regulation off autopilot.
So Iâm not saying that reading will make you a âgeniusâ at your field; only time and practice will do that. Rather, reading helps develop and maintain the basic cognitive skills associated with intelligence. Reading wonât turn you into a rocket scientist, but it will help you remember where you put your car keys.
ChatGPT and its ilk are, as they exist now, dumb as fuck. This is one of the many reasons why itâs distressing to see young people offload basic tasks and decisions onto whatâs essentially a Magic 8 Ball. If I had to guess, though, Iâd say that a lot of people actually need this cognitive crutch (such as it is) precisely because theyâre no longer trained or encouraged to read. And, from where Iâm standing, I can see an enormous gap in the performance of students who are able to read and the students who choose not to.
Basic human intelligence can be divided into two broad categories: cognition and problem-solving. The act of reading helps develop the skills integral to both categories.
Cognition
Perception
This is a matter of accurately understanding sensory input. Basic reading comprehension is really good at developing this at a higher level. In other words, instead of seeing black marks on a white page, you perceive language that has meaning that you can understand.
Concentration
This is the ability to direct and focus your attention instead of allowing yourself to be distracted. This doesnât come naturally to most people, which is why more entertainment-focused media (like movies and video games) are the way they are, with something happening every ten seconds or less. Books require a more active focus, but a good writer will help you out.
Memory
This is the ability to retain information after it passes the threshold of short-term awareness. Being able to remember things like character names and plot details helps with this. Memory can feel passive when youâre reading an interesting story, but itâs really not. By engaging with and retaining a story, youâre literally creating neural pathways in your brain that can be activated and used in the future.
Imagination
This is the distinctly human ability to project and explore scenarios based on the previous three skills. This isnât so much âseeing vivid pictures in your head,â but rather a willingness to suspend disbelief while entertaining a fantasy (or an argument whose point isnât immediately clear).
Problem Solving
Critical thinking
This is a fancy way of saying âyou can understand the meaning behind language.â In other words, itâs the ability to understand why someone is saying something. All of the literary devices, from metaphor to irony, require critical thinking to understand properly. In addition, watching characters react to language is a way of modeling our own reactions.
Lateral thinking
This is the ability to move beyond memory and familiar patterns. To give a basic example: If your key isnât opening a door, lateral thinking helps you realize that perhaps youâre using the wrong key. Developing imagination by, for example, responding to characters (or to the author) in your head helps with this. In addition, lateral thinking requires time and space to maneuver, and the self-directed pace of books allows for this space in a way that other media often doesnât.
Emotional Regulation
This is the ability to make decisions without being overly influenced by strong and immediate emotions. Like memory, this can often feel automatic, but itâs not. When youâre tired or stressed out, for example, the strain is apparent. The concentration and catharsis of reading helps develop emotional regulation in a passive way, but I also think the more active development of empathy by seeing characters and situations from different perspectives can be useful when you need to switch your emotional regulation off autopilot.
So Iâm not saying that reading will make you a âgeniusâ at your field; only time and practice will do that. Rather, reading helps develop and maintain the basic cognitive skills associated with intelligence. Reading wonât turn you into a rocket scientist, but it will help you remember where you put your car keys.
ChatGPT and its ilk are, as they exist now, dumb as fuck. This is one of the many reasons why itâs distressing to see young people offload basic tasks and decisions onto whatâs essentially a Magic 8 Ball. If I had to guess, though, Iâd say that a lot of people actually need this cognitive crutch (such as it is) precisely because theyâre no longer trained or encouraged to read. And, from where Iâm standing, I can see an enormous gap in the performance of students who are able to read and the students who choose not to.
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Date: 2025-05-26 01:15 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2025-05-29 10:01 pm (UTC)