Stephen Harrison
@stephenharrison.com
Print advocate and journalist. Writing a book about the value of paper & ink for St. Martin’s Press. Rep’d by Mark Gottlieb, Trident Media Group. stephenharrison.com
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Stephen Harrison
@stephenharrison.com
· Dec 24
They Were Every Student’s Worst Nightmare. Now Blue Books Are Back.
Cheating with ChatGPT has become a huge problem for colleges. The solution is painfully old-school.
www.wsj.com
Does anyone else bristle at this framing? WSJ says blue books are “torturing” students with hand cramps, and “nobody likes them.”
Listen, students have been outsourcing everything to AI and cheating their way through college. Blue books should be celebrated as a return to authentic human learning.
Listen, students have been outsourcing everything to AI and cheating their way through college. Blue books should be celebrated as a return to authentic human learning.
This one is for the Marshall McLuhan and Neil Postman fans:
“The medium is the metaphor” > “The medium is the message”
“The medium is the metaphor” > “The medium is the message”
February 10, 2026 at 1:52 AM
This one is for the Marshall McLuhan and Neil Postman fans:
“The medium is the metaphor” > “The medium is the message”
“The medium is the metaphor” > “The medium is the message”
As a thought experiment, I’ve been updating the references in a few passages from Neil Postman’s Amusing Ourselves to Death (1985). What do you think?
February 6, 2026 at 12:17 AM
As a thought experiment, I’ve been updating the references in a few passages from Neil Postman’s Amusing Ourselves to Death (1985). What do you think?
Most writing about the Attention Crisis is gloomy, for good reason. But I appreciate this little book by Prof. Alan Jacobs because he highlights the rewards that come from the struggle of deep reading, as in this passage:
![Some forms of intellectual labor are worth the trouble. In those times when Whim isn’t quite enough [to read deeply], times that will come to us all, we discover this. Such work strengthens our minds, makes us more capable of concentration, teaches us patience—and almost certainly a touch of humility as well, as we struggle to navigate the difficult (if elegant) terrain of Hume’s prose. But what do we have more need for, in our whirling mental worlds, than strength and concentration and patience and humility? These are virtues worth aspiring to, especially because they lead to new and greater delights.](https://cdn.bsky.app/img/feed_thumbnail/plain/did:plc:bmadfvr2hjt5qq63u3c7xczi/bafkreiesgomav5rvazvqypklvnole37t3y55vkihpsdyzjfkr2lqobf7ky@jpeg)
February 4, 2026 at 12:26 AM
Most writing about the Attention Crisis is gloomy, for good reason. But I appreciate this little book by Prof. Alan Jacobs because he highlights the rewards that come from the struggle of deep reading, as in this passage:
the Onion needs to update this for 2026 to mention AI summaries & give us one cause it’s too long
February 2, 2026 at 6:02 PM
the Onion needs to update this for 2026 to mention AI summaries & give us one cause it’s too long
I love this new term “critical ignoring” because it points to yet another benefit of print. Our phones flood us with an endless amount of low-quality info that’s incredibly hard to ignore. By contrast, a physical book is a single-purpose device that excludes the background noise and lets you focus.
Your Key Survival Skill for 2026: Critical Ignoring
In an age of endless low-quality information, it’s time to fight our instinct to seek out and absorb all we can. It takes practice.
www.wsj.com
February 1, 2026 at 8:49 PM
I love this new term “critical ignoring” because it points to yet another benefit of print. Our phones flood us with an endless amount of low-quality info that’s incredibly hard to ignore. By contrast, a physical book is a single-purpose device that excludes the background noise and lets you focus.
Eighty-four percent of Americans say they’ve adopted analogue habits to create boundaries with screens. Writing in notebooks leads the list at 32%, followed by reading printed books at 31% and using paper calendars at 28%.
February 1, 2026 at 12:27 AM
Eighty-four percent of Americans say they’ve adopted analogue habits to create boundaries with screens. Writing in notebooks leads the list at 32%, followed by reading printed books at 31% and using paper calendars at 28%.
While a lot of folks are understandably concerned about the loss of mass market paperbacks, there’s perhaps a more positive interpretation of this story. 🧵 1/5
January 29, 2026 at 10:38 PM
While a lot of folks are understandably concerned about the loss of mass market paperbacks, there’s perhaps a more positive interpretation of this story. 🧵 1/5
Reposted by Stephen Harrison
Oh man, extremely interested in this one 👀
This news means a lot to me. I'm writing my first nonfiction book, THE POWER OF PRINT, about why we think differently with paper versus screens, and why we should all aspire to reclaim our print brains. Coming 2027 from St. Martin's Press. @stmartinspress.bsky.social
January 29, 2026 at 12:56 AM
Oh man, extremely interested in this one 👀
Among the many topics missing from this piece is any discussion of the medium. Harry Potter was a print phenomenon, with most readers encountering the books in physical form, and huge in-person launch events. It’s not only that politics have changed. It’s that we’ve become increasingly disembodied.
In @nytopinion.nytimes.com
Younger generations “have fallen out of love with Harry Potter because they have fallen out of love with the worldview the series represents,” writes Louise Perry. “Which is to say that young people have fallen out of love with liberalism.”
Younger generations “have fallen out of love with Harry Potter because they have fallen out of love with the worldview the series represents,” writes Louise Perry. “Which is to say that young people have fallen out of love with liberalism.”
Opinion | Why Gen Z Doesn’t Love ‘Harry Potter’
The wizarding worldview is naïve.
nyti.ms
January 28, 2026 at 1:37 PM
Among the many topics missing from this piece is any discussion of the medium. Harry Potter was a print phenomenon, with most readers encountering the books in physical form, and huge in-person launch events. It’s not only that politics have changed. It’s that we’ve become increasingly disembodied.
This news means a lot to me. I'm writing my first nonfiction book, THE POWER OF PRINT, about why we think differently with paper versus screens, and why we should all aspire to reclaim our print brains. Coming 2027 from St. Martin's Press. @stmartinspress.bsky.social
January 27, 2026 at 11:43 PM
This news means a lot to me. I'm writing my first nonfiction book, THE POWER OF PRINT, about why we think differently with paper versus screens, and why we should all aspire to reclaim our print brains. Coming 2027 from St. Martin's Press. @stmartinspress.bsky.social
How can we expect 13-year-olds to focus on their assignments when a glut of entertaining video content is just a tab away?
Digital tools have their place, particularly for student research, but sometimes a paper worksheet or handwritten response are simply better tools for deep learning.
Digital tools have their place, particularly for student research, but sometimes a paper worksheet or handwritten response are simply better tools for deep learning.
Opinion | The Screen That Ate Your Child’s Education
www.nytimes.com
January 24, 2026 at 8:08 PM
How can we expect 13-year-olds to focus on their assignments when a glut of entertaining video content is just a tab away?
Digital tools have their place, particularly for student research, but sometimes a paper worksheet or handwritten response are simply better tools for deep learning.
Digital tools have their place, particularly for student research, but sometimes a paper worksheet or handwritten response are simply better tools for deep learning.
Anyone marking Wikipedia's 25th anniversary today can believe it’s an incredible success story for commons-based peer production and that there're aspects of the site that sometimes piss them off. Let's hope it lasts a while longer.
My latest for WIRED:
My latest for WIRED:
As the free online encyclopedia turns 25, it’s facing political opposition, AI scraping, dwindling volunteers, and a public that may no longer believe in its ideals. www.wired.com/story/wikipe...
Wikipedia’s Existential Threats Feel Greater Than Ever
As the free online encyclopedia turns 25, it’s facing political opposition, AI scraping, dwindling volunteers, and a public that may no longer believe in its ideals.
www.wired.com
January 15, 2026 at 3:08 PM
Anyone marking Wikipedia's 25th anniversary today can believe it’s an incredible success story for commons-based peer production and that there're aspects of the site that sometimes piss them off. Let's hope it lasts a while longer.
My latest for WIRED:
My latest for WIRED:
Reposted by Stephen Harrison
Microblogging is just a catastrophically bad form of human interaction. If you sat down to design a system specifically meant to make people act out and create harassment mobs, you'd be hard pressed to build something more effectively toxic.
January 5, 2026 at 8:27 PM
Microblogging is just a catastrophically bad form of human interaction. If you sat down to design a system specifically meant to make people act out and create harassment mobs, you'd be hard pressed to build something more effectively toxic.
Anyone else conflicted by this Atlantic essay? I agree with the author that the “democracy depends on reading” line won’t be effective.
Then again, promoting reading as a “vice” seems like a mistake, especially now as so many folks are starved for wisdom/virtue/healthy pleasures.
Then again, promoting reading as a “vice” seems like a mistake, especially now as so many folks are starved for wisdom/virtue/healthy pleasures.
Reading Is a Vice
Being a reader means cultivating a relationship with the world that, by most standards, can seem pointless and counterproductive.
www.theatlantic.com
January 5, 2026 at 2:54 PM
Anyone else conflicted by this Atlantic essay? I agree with the author that the “democracy depends on reading” line won’t be effective.
Then again, promoting reading as a “vice” seems like a mistake, especially now as so many folks are starved for wisdom/virtue/healthy pleasures.
Then again, promoting reading as a “vice” seems like a mistake, especially now as so many folks are starved for wisdom/virtue/healthy pleasures.
As we start 2026, I’m grateful for the sharp, thoughtful people I’ve met on Bluesky, but I also want to keep in mind what my favorite contemporary philosopher says about posting:
January 3, 2026 at 9:49 PM
As we start 2026, I’m grateful for the sharp, thoughtful people I’ve met on Bluesky, but I also want to keep in mind what my favorite contemporary philosopher says about posting:
Gotta love the do-it-yourself gumption in Adler’s 1940 guide How to Read a Book.
“With nothing but the power of your own mind, you operate on the symbols before you in such a way that you gradually lift yourself from a state of understanding less to one of understanding more.”
“With nothing but the power of your own mind, you operate on the symbols before you in such a way that you gradually lift yourself from a state of understanding less to one of understanding more.”
December 31, 2025 at 8:24 PM
Gotta love the do-it-yourself gumption in Adler’s 1940 guide How to Read a Book.
“With nothing but the power of your own mind, you operate on the symbols before you in such a way that you gradually lift yourself from a state of understanding less to one of understanding more.”
“With nothing but the power of your own mind, you operate on the symbols before you in such a way that you gradually lift yourself from a state of understanding less to one of understanding more.”
One of the underrated benefits of print is the variety of forms. Heavy textbooks, faintly musky paperbacks, pocket-sized primers…
Whereas digital tools tie the experience to a single, uniform environment. The knowledge sticks less, and we struggle to transfer what we’ve learned to other contexts.
Whereas digital tools tie the experience to a single, uniform environment. The knowledge sticks less, and we struggle to transfer what we’ve learned to other contexts.
December 31, 2025 at 1:05 AM
One of the underrated benefits of print is the variety of forms. Heavy textbooks, faintly musky paperbacks, pocket-sized primers…
Whereas digital tools tie the experience to a single, uniform environment. The knowledge sticks less, and we struggle to transfer what we’ve learned to other contexts.
Whereas digital tools tie the experience to a single, uniform environment. The knowledge sticks less, and we struggle to transfer what we’ve learned to other contexts.
We all know McLuhan’s, “The medium is the message.”
He also said, “As technology advances, it reverses the characteristics of every situation.”
By his logic, AI was always going to flip the framework, producing new appreciation for analogue forms.
Let’s hope we make the most of the reversal.
He also said, “As technology advances, it reverses the characteristics of every situation.”
By his logic, AI was always going to flip the framework, producing new appreciation for analogue forms.
Let’s hope we make the most of the reversal.
The rise of AI art is spurring a revival of analogue media
It is not just vinyl. Film cameras and print publications are trendy again, too
www.economist.com
December 27, 2025 at 4:18 PM
We all know McLuhan’s, “The medium is the message.”
He also said, “As technology advances, it reverses the characteristics of every situation.”
By his logic, AI was always going to flip the framework, producing new appreciation for analogue forms.
Let’s hope we make the most of the reversal.
He also said, “As technology advances, it reverses the characteristics of every situation.”
By his logic, AI was always going to flip the framework, producing new appreciation for analogue forms.
Let’s hope we make the most of the reversal.
Does anyone else bristle at this framing? WSJ says blue books are “torturing” students with hand cramps, and “nobody likes them.”
Listen, students have been outsourcing everything to AI and cheating their way through college. Blue books should be celebrated as a return to authentic human learning.
Listen, students have been outsourcing everything to AI and cheating their way through college. Blue books should be celebrated as a return to authentic human learning.
They Were Every Student’s Worst Nightmare. Now Blue Books Are Back.
Cheating with ChatGPT has become a huge problem for colleges. The solution is painfully old-school.
www.wsj.com
December 24, 2025 at 3:21 PM
Does anyone else bristle at this framing? WSJ says blue books are “torturing” students with hand cramps, and “nobody likes them.”
Listen, students have been outsourcing everything to AI and cheating their way through college. Blue books should be celebrated as a return to authentic human learning.
Listen, students have been outsourcing everything to AI and cheating their way through college. Blue books should be celebrated as a return to authentic human learning.
We can form intense ties with analog objects over years of use. That’s why Flaubert asked to be buried with his inkwell.
But digital tech is mostly disposable. We value its connection to the infosphere, not the thing itself. No one’s dying wish is to be buried with AI glasses.
But digital tech is mostly disposable. We value its connection to the infosphere, not the thing itself. No one’s dying wish is to be buried with AI glasses.
December 22, 2025 at 11:09 PM
We can form intense ties with analog objects over years of use. That’s why Flaubert asked to be buried with his inkwell.
But digital tech is mostly disposable. We value its connection to the infosphere, not the thing itself. No one’s dying wish is to be buried with AI glasses.
But digital tech is mostly disposable. We value its connection to the infosphere, not the thing itself. No one’s dying wish is to be buried with AI glasses.
Looking to talk to people who bought a reMarkable tablet, or similar digital notebook with e-ink, and stopped using it after a few weeks or months.
December 21, 2025 at 6:09 PM
Looking to talk to people who bought a reMarkable tablet, or similar digital notebook with e-ink, and stopped using it after a few weeks or months.
Víctor Hugo, born 1802 in Eastern France, spent his teenage years filling notebooks with poetry and sketches. Eruptions from his restless mind.
He developed a two-handed approach—one hand writing, the other drawing—that he’d later use while writing classics like The Hunchback of Notre Dame (cont.)
He developed a two-handed approach—one hand writing, the other drawing—that he’d later use while writing classics like The Hunchback of Notre Dame (cont.)
December 19, 2025 at 4:44 PM
Víctor Hugo, born 1802 in Eastern France, spent his teenage years filling notebooks with poetry and sketches. Eruptions from his restless mind.
He developed a two-handed approach—one hand writing, the other drawing—that he’d later use while writing classics like The Hunchback of Notre Dame (cont.)
He developed a two-handed approach—one hand writing, the other drawing—that he’d later use while writing classics like The Hunchback of Notre Dame (cont.)
Engagement is not the same as learning. As a former DuoLingo user, I can attest that it’s a fun addictive game, but you don’t learn much. One independent study found DuoLingo users scored lower on a standardized language test than Babbel users, despite spending significantly more time on the app.
December 18, 2025 at 3:40 PM
Engagement is not the same as learning. As a former DuoLingo user, I can attest that it’s a fun addictive game, but you don’t learn much. One independent study found DuoLingo users scored lower on a standardized language test than Babbel users, despite spending significantly more time on the app.
Intellectualism is the new counterculture.
Academic lectures have invaded L.A. bars and tickets are selling out in minutes
Attendees can geek out on topics from the use of AI in medicine to the psychology of deception, all in a fun, low-stakes environment.
www.latimes.com
December 15, 2025 at 9:09 PM
Intellectualism is the new counterculture.
Today I learned that Albert Wenger, head of the VC firm that originally backed Twitter, has this sticker on the back of his phone
December 11, 2025 at 8:34 PM
Today I learned that Albert Wenger, head of the VC firm that originally backed Twitter, has this sticker on the back of his phone