Quote:
Originally Posted by rcentros
Just stating my personal take on it. For me, reading is reading, listening is something else. If I listened to a book I would also want to read along. I can pick up more when I visually see the words. And also, I usually read at night and I like the quiet. If I'm going to listen to something (which would require headphones) I could just as well watch a movie. This is no way a judgment on anyone else or their preferences, just the way I (personally) look at it.
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Im a fan of audiobooks and enjoy listening to speeches and discussions on youtube, but you are right when you observe reading is a qualitatively different experience than listening. Theres a reason why oral cultures gave way to literacy when writing evolved.
Neil Postman wrote about the cultural changes that occur moving from an oral to a print based culture in a couple of books (technopoly and amusing ourselves to death).
Reading is something unique and valuable that cant be replicated by listening to the same material for reasons hardwired into our biology. Another popular book exploring this theme is The Shallows- what the internet is doing to our brains.