It’s Time To Read More Books
Knowledge is power.
The internet age has allowed us to access information with just a click of a button. From entertaining to informative, with just 5-minutes on the web, you will definitely find what you are looking for. Best of all, THEY ARE FREE.
While my title suggest that we should read more books, I am arguing that we should move through properly published material rather than the ones that are easily accessible — even if it means that we have to pay for it.
Where things take a turn
The internet has given everybody an amazing opportunity to share their ideas, and maybe make some money on the side. We can sell our content online and it is virtually accessible all around the globe; if you want to be a bit more formal, companies like Amazon even allows you to self-publish and sell your own content. Maybe you don’t want to sell your idea, but just want to share; well it is still possible to make money doing that by adding ads into your website.
So there are incentive to just writing random things online! (and it looks like I am doing it also)
Keeping this in mind, it is very important for us to be vigilant about the content that we found online. When content-creating becomes a livelihood, it may become tempting to create click-bait material; that is content that are designed for the viewer to engage with, either through controversial ideas or eye-catching titles. Sometimes this content has no substance or reliability, but are needed to be produced so they can gain traffic to their website.
The competition to capture your attention can cause people to jump into a topic without having the full understanding and provide their opinion in order to stay relevant.
This will eventually lower the quality of the content. Imagine if I have a 5 part series on a financial advise, if I sell it as a book, I may just sell all 5 part in one go — but if I present this idea for free in exchange of ad-revenue from website visits, I may split this into 5 separate post. While you will eventually reach to the same conclusion, one will take you longer than the other (assuming it’s even the same content)
Some content may even be altered to fit current events just to stay relevant; so even though there may be a concept that fits an overall arc, it loses it’s weight simply because the author wants it to be tied to whatever is happening right now.
The ability to voice our own opinion is definitely a powerful tool in today’s society — but it is important that we understand what is the difference when it comes to credible content. While it is up to use to decide the quality of something, we have to think back on why this content is published in the first place — does the author really believe in the content? Or are they trying to meet a deadline and just publish something eye catching.
Why We should not Abandon Books
Let’s look back at how a book is published, before it even hits the shelves. An Author would have to be able to sell their idea to a published, the publisher then will go through layers of due diligence before finally printing millions of copy and put them in store shelves. This is not cheap.
With a huge cost and reputation at stake in publishing a book — would it be safe to say that the content may be worth something?
I do realize just because something is not free, doesn’t mean it is quality — but at the very least it can act as a minimum bar to put the author as liable to his content. Depending on where you are, it may be possible to get a refund over something you paid for. Does the creator want to go through that hassle if they were to publish mediocre content?
So what now?
Don’t stop learning! They say the best investment is when you invest in yourself, so paying for quality content will yield profit later on down the road. While it is possible to learn from the free content that are published online, they may be incomplete or unstructured.
If you are afraid that you won’t be able to afford it, there are always resources out there that can help. Check out your local library for books! Email websites to see if you can get a trial account!
For me? I’m moving back to books over articles.
