Why Streaming Services M

This weekend, I was driving my daughter to the stables for her riding lessons. Most of the time we are either slamming the drivers around us for their stupidity, or even complaining about life in general. There are other days, like today, where she turns on the phone and either listens to music or watches videos. Because she was without her headphones, she was watching the video and I got to listen in as she watched...I really don't know what. Now, let me just say, what she was watching was not what caught my eye. It was HOW she was watching. 

As the show progressed, she would, every now and then, just fast forward through something that really was not grabbing her attention. No, this was not skipping over the commercials, she was just skimming through the show, skipping, what I am sure she would define as the "boring sections."

If you think about it, with all of the great new technology that we have with streaming services or "on-demand" tv, I am sure what she was doing is something a lot of other people do on a regular basis. NOTE: I will openly say I have no scientific proof of this so just go with it. As a society, we have no patience for anything that is "boring" or simply "does not interest us." And this got me thinking about what we read.

I actually heard an author once say that she openly skips over all of the narration paragraphs in a book. If it was not dialogue, it was useless information. Her comment was "she just wanted to get to the story." When I heard this, my jaw dropped. Really?? To her was dialogue the only thing necessary in a story?? But get this... others around her said the same thing. 

I have also heard editors talk about the desire to have more "quick reads." This did not mean shorter books, or stories with less depth, but stories that read faster. And, as authors know and understand, narrative paragraphs do indeed slow a text down in terms of reading speed. 

And if this is not enough, consider the HUGE rise in "graphic novels." Schools use the argument that if this is the best way to get kids to read, then let's push for this. I have to say, while I do want kids to read, these novels are now doing just what this other author was doing - just reading dialogue.

What we seem to be missing here is that great novels (and great television, movies and the like) WILL have things that are not going to be "in your face entertaining" 100% of the time. The thing that made all of those novels we have come to know and love truly amazing is the "great storytelling" which did involve narrations, character building, world building and great use of language. These stories were not simply meant to be rushed through, but to give the reader a chance to be immersed in another world. 

Look, I truly get wanting to skip over those commercials, especially now that we are once again getting ready to dive into an election cycle. But, at least those commercials do create a chance for people to discuss true feelings and not just "quote funny lines." 

Now, am I saying that there is a direction connection between these two? Maybe not. But what I am saying is that services like this are feeding our world's laziness, and maybe, it is starting to leak into the quality of our reading and novels.