Short to mid-length content feels indigenous to the size, resolution and use cases of smartphones

Future Reading (19 highlights)
Craig Mod, aeon.co

Maybe less “indigenous” than “survivable”.

Short- and mid-length pieces live on devices that shoot light into our eyes. Reading a screen is a more physically taxing reading experience than the reflected light on a paper text, so naturally (if subconsciously), we can only handle it in smaller doses.

Don’t buy that? You can’t not buy this:

Most story-reading happens on the phone, but most of what happens on the phone isn’t story-reading. We’re conditioned to scan feeds, to switch apps, to SnapChat and WeChat and iChat. We’re feeling for vibrations, tapping rounded squares to address red circles. Even if we’re willful enough to enable Do Not Disturb mode, we can’t get the clock out of the viewport. You can’t get lost in a story if you can also see a clock.

Shortreads, or rather short sessions reading Any-Length-Reads, are all we can survive on our phones.