Sort of sounds like reading.


Can we have it both ways? Reading is usually a solitary activity. Though we sometimes read out loud, adults are ordinarily expected to read to themselves. Many of the praises of reading tell us how a person alone, in his or her armchair, can get to know the world, can experience things that might otherwise be beyond their reach, can, through the reading of fiction, understand the emotional states of real people, including him or herself. Elton John, on the other hand, seems to suggest that being alone is something undesirable, something that diminishes our creativity. Does our ability to fantasize, to realize new possibilities, increase when we're in groups? If it does, wouldn't it perhaps make sense for us not to read by ourselves, but to somehow do so as part of a group? Would Elton John see this as something positive, a means of enhancing our creativity? Or should he perhaps criticize not only the internet, but the very act of reading as well?



Go to: The internet and some of its discontents.