Blogs vs. Classics: The New Experience of Language
- Words: 429
- Sentences: 27
- Grade level: 7.6-10.4
- Read time: ~2.1 min @ 200WPM
In order to get a handle on just how many words I see every day, I analyzed two of my favorite tech blogs and compared them to a few classics.
The Statistics
| Awesome Blogs | Words per Year |
| TechCrunch* | 1,881,152 |
| Engadget* | 1,218,609 |
| Classic Books | Total Words |
| Homer – Iliad | 168,599 |
| Plato – Apology | 11,472 |
| Aristotle – Ethics | 85,103 |
| Old Testament | 593,493 |
| New Testament | 181,253 |
| Augustine – Confessions | 137,505 |
| Shakespeare – Hamlet | 30,066 |
| Melville – Moby Dick | 210,997 |
| Dostoevsky – Brothers Karamazov | 349,272 |
| Faulkner – The Sound and the Fury | 96,709 |
| Total | 1,864,469 |
* These stats are estimates based on number of posts per week reported by Google Reader and an average number of words from the last 10 posts.
Dropping TechCrunch = Literary Scholar?
These numbers suggest that if I dropped just one blog, TechCrunch (I love you Mike!), I could conceivably use the leftover time to read all of the above classics in just one year. At 250 words/minute, it would take only 20 minutes a day.
And people say they don’t have time to read the classics.
What It Really Means about Our Experience of Language
In reality, this comparison isn’t apples to apples. I don’t read TechCrunch, I just scan it. I look at the titles and pictures, and only read the posts that relate to my field. But because I do this hundreds of times per day on several blogs and news sites, it says more about my experience of language than my chances of becoming an epic scholar. Here are some observations:
- We are exposed to an staggering number of words every day. Just scanning these two blogs adds up to 3 million words in a year. That’s not counting comments, advertisements, or the links out to other sites.
- We are see numerous fragments, but few complete thoughts – TechCrunch uses it’s 1.8 million words for 6,000 short, decontextualized posts. Compare that to 1.8 million words in 10 classic works each comprising major themes.
- We consume facts, but few ideas – TechCrunch is a must read for the web startup world, but it is mostly just data. It doesn’t develop a person morally or discuss what ought to be, it only tells us what is.
This doesn’t mean TechCrunch is bad or even useless, but it does mean that our most common experience of words is a form of empty consumption rather than deep soul formation. It’s rather like choosing to eat a dozen 99 cent McDonald’s burgers instead of a slowly marinated, costly steak.
If you looked at your word consumption, what would you find?
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About this blog
I'm John Dyer a web developer working on sites like Best Commentaries, Bible Web App, Dallas Seminary. I'm also a seminary graduate and teacher at Irving Bible Church.
This blog is about the the role of technology in the redemptive movement from the Garden to the City. I believe technology is an amazing testament to the creativity embedded in the imago dei, but instead of assuming technology is always a neutral tool, I believe it - like culture in general - profoundly influences us.
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15 Responses to Blogs vs. Classics: The New Experience of Language
bleek
January 21st, 2009 at 8:27 am
dang. that’s wild. and convicting. I gotta get a grip on my time!
Charles
January 21st, 2009 at 9:19 am
I recently cut out some blog reading time, and some other stuff, and am committed to reading at least 250 pages a week. I’m actually far exceeding that for the first three weeks, and I’m getting a lot more done aside from reading. I’m not really sure where all of my new found time came from, but I think not reading 20 blogs and following all of their rabbit holes (to mostly useless information) is helping.
John Dyer
January 21st, 2009 at 9:31 am
I’d love to know if you’re also finding your concentration increasing as you spend more time with large ideas and less with small pieces of information.
Charles
January 21st, 2009 at 11:40 am
It really is.
I’ve been trying to read Don Everts’ 150 page God in the Flesh for more than two years, same with Case for a Creator. But since I slowed my blog reading and started sitting down to read books, I’ve finished 3 in two weeks. And I’m reading faster while retaining more information.
Jim Gray
January 21st, 2009 at 12:39 pm
this is why i tooks sped redding in cowledge.
bleek
January 21st, 2009 at 2:09 pm
I agree with Charles. I have cut out some significant time drains – reading blogs (trimmed the list to REALLY good ones, like yours :), twitter, google discussion groups, and even my own blogging. by “significant” I mean they take more time than I need to devote. I still find them fun, interesting, and often edifying.
in their place I have committed to reading a minimum of 20-30 minutes per night. this has been an amazing blessing. my thoughts are clearer, deeper (not necessarily more profound), and more extended. it’s extremely pleasurable.
I also limit TV to LOST, AFV, and major sporting events (i.e., not EVERY football game, but ones such as playoffs – go Steelers!).
Charles
January 22nd, 2009 at 10:16 am
I had no idea there were Steelers fans here!
Chris Dattilo
January 21st, 2009 at 3:06 pm
This post hit a nerve – OUCH! I am trying to cut down on blogs, twitter, and screen time in general. In my pruning, I still spen way too much time.
Laying it out like you have will help me rethink this conundrum once again. It’s time to take the pruning shears out once again.
Thanks!
Amber
January 21st, 2009 at 5:59 pm
I love that you chose Dostoevsky and Faulkner; I feel like that’s a shout-out to your wife. =)
Amber
January 21st, 2009 at 6:08 pm
And I love this:
“TechCrunch. . . doesn’t develop a person morally or discuss what ought to be; it only tells us what is.”
In _The Poetics_, Aristotle writes, “The historian sees things as they are. The poet tells us what ought to be.” (And then Aristotle argues that the poet is superior).
Like all who have replied to this post, I am convicted about the time-wasting element of surfing the net. But I also see your deeper Straussian (tee hee) meaning; Robert Frost puts it poetically in “Neither Out Too Far Nor in Too Deep”:
http://www.poemhunter.com/poem/neither-out-far-nor-in-deep/
Chris Allison
January 21st, 2009 at 6:11 pm
I also recently cut back on many blogs- I kept TechCrunch because I need to keep plugged in for work- but I’ve cut many of the social media “gurus” who all talk about the same thing, and many other blogs.
interesting post. dostoevsky rocks.
bleek
January 21st, 2009 at 6:14 pm
isn’t it curious how many of us keep reading this blog, and comments, in the face of our commitment to cut back on reading blogs? me = pot kettle black.
David
January 23rd, 2009 at 4:07 pm
Great insight. Irony that I’m reading a blog; not lost.
BJ
January 27th, 2009 at 10:59 am
I am wondering about the reading vs. scanning idea.
When you come across a more hardy read, requiring digestion, does that effect how much you are able to ingest. (i.e. read) Or, would said ingestion, be found to be more related to scanning if kept at such pace, 250wpm? I know that when I take in books that make me think, process and/or challenge moral normalcy it slows me down a bit. Am I just a rookie when it comes to processing beyond factual information?