The Medium Is Not the Message

“The Internet-versus-books debate is conducted on the supposition that the medium is the message. But sometimes the medium is just the medium,” says David Brooks. The New York Times columnist is not too worried to that the Internet will rot your brain just because it’s the Internet. “What matters is the way people think about themselves while engaged in the two activities. A person who becomes a citizen of the literary world enters a hierarchical universe. There are classic works of literature at the top and beach reading at the bottom…A citizen of the Internet has a very different experience. The Internet smashes hierarchy and is not marked by deference.”