Mastodawn

Ricky Rigatoni Jul 21, 2025

Anon is Illiterate

https://retrolemmy.com/post/22155698

AFK BRB Chocolate (CA version)

I read a lot of science fiction, and a younger friends at work frequently asked me for recommendations, and he liked talking about the books after reading them. At some point I found out that he exclusively consumes them as audiobooks, which is fine and I didn’t think much about it. Some years down the line, when I was getting ready to retire, I had to pass on things to him. There was enough of it that, in addition to working elbow-to-elbow with him, I documented all the details in some long emails. When we meet, I’d say “The details are in the email,” and focus on explaining the big picture.

It became obvious that he never read the emails. When I talked to him about it, he admitted that he really struggles with any long block of text. The guy is really smart, and he knows a lot about a lot of things, but he gets all his info from audio and video because struggles to consume text. There’s clearly some kind of learning/mental issue going on there. It’s going to make the job tough for him, but I hope he works it out.

kieron115 Jul 21, 2025

If only everyone recorded personal logs like in Star Trek you could have just bequeathed him those! On a serious note though, good on them for trying to learn and expand their knowledge even with some sort of learning disability. I was diagnosed with ADHD like 30 years ago and I understand how troubling it can be trying to read things while constantly having to re-read sentences because you spaced out, or having to keep 5 browser tabs open because each new section brings up some other topic that I now need. I describe my learning/through process as a spider web for good reason.

AFK BRB Chocolate (CA version)Jul 21, 2025

Life is hard enough without those extra challenges. Hang in there.

kieron115 Jul 21, 2025

🙏

u/lukmly013 💾 (lemmy.sdf.org)Jul 21, 2025

I actually prefer text for the same reason. No need to pause and rewind, then once again forget what I wanted to hear and go back for the 4th time.

I by far prefer text for things that matter.

kieron115 Jul 21, 2025

That’s good, when I’m medicated I can sink into a book without as much trouble but typically I need more stimulus to be able to focus. It’s a fine line though bc too much stimulus and I’m right back into that zone you described.

ChickenLadyLovesLife Jul 21, 2025

One of my favorite Youtube channels (Greg’s Airplanes and Automobiles) has great videos about WWII airplanes and aeronautical technology, really digging into the weeds with original source material kind of stuff. But: they’re just him reading a script he’s written and showing still pictures and excerpts from pilot manuals etc. His content would make excellent written blog posts or even a book, but then nobody would read it. He has to turn what is fundamentally written material into videos in order to make any money off of his work because that’s what works for most people. Just makes me sad.

Echolynx Jul 23, 2025

This is why I love ones like Kurzgesagt that publish sources and ‘read more’ pages for their videos.

lorty Jul 21, 2025

They found a way to learn that works for them. As someone that almost always prefer text, I understand why you feel this way but you must have realized that most people prefer this format. And as far as I can tell, so long as they can read an email when it’s important (which they’ll learn one way or another), it will be fine.

AFK BRB Chocolate (CA version)Jul 21, 2025

He’s been working at the company for more than 15 years and still struggles to read any significant block of text, so I’m worried for him. It’s not that he prefers audio, it’s that text is a real problem for him.

And don’t misunderstand me: I’m the guy’s biggest cheerleader; I very much want him to succeed and am happy with any viable workaround he finds. I’m not pushing any sort of personal bias on him. The company works with a lot of text.

ChickenLadyLovesLife Jul 21, 2025

so long as they can read an email when it’s important

At my last job I managed a team of coders in India. They absolutely, categorically refused to ever read anything that I wrote to them, no matter what the situation. I had to maintain a 4AM-noon schedule just so I could have realtime interactions with them at least part of my day and give them instructions verbally. To their credit, they didn’t really listen to what I said much, either.

I still wonder whether it was a side effect of being able to speak English but not being able to read and write it very well, or whether they were consciously trying to avoid having any paper trail that they could be held accountable for.

CMonster Jul 21, 2025

That is so crazy for me one a personal level because I’m the exact opposite. My brain has a really hard time processing auditory instructions.

BananaIsABerry Jul 21, 2025

Seriously, written guide > > > > > > > video guide

kieron115 Jul 21, 2025

This is also a great example of how, even if there are no disabilities involved, everyone has different learning styles. Some people just process information differently.

AFK BRB Chocolate (CA version)Jul 21, 2025

I’m good with distilling information in whatever form, but I do get impatient with audio/video sometimes. I can read faster than people talk, so I want the audio to go faster. I’ve tried upping the playback speed, but we encode a lot of information in the pauses and cadence of speech, and the faster playback screws with the perception of that. Doing that is fine for technical information, but I don’t care for it with a novel.

Echolynx Jul 23, 2025

Interesting, never though about the cadence thing. I usually try to speed up videos. It works fine for casual YouTube videos but never for podcasts or anything where I need to retain the information.

AFK BRB Chocolate (CA version)Jul 23, 2025

Yeah, it really throws me off. I’m a little overly sensitive to body language and other cues about what a person is thinking and feeling, and some of that is messed up when the speed is increased.

kieron115 Jul 21, 2025

Something else I forgot to mention was a concept that I learned in the military called BLUF: Bottom Line Up Front. The idea is that most people aren’t going to read past the first sentence or two before skipping to the end so you better get the absolutely critical information out right away; before your reader gets bored/decides they have more pressing matters to deal with. I would regularly see emails that started with a summary before even the salutations.

AFK BRB Chocolate (CA version)Jul 21, 2025

Oh, yes, we use BLUF at work a lot, but it’s not really useful if you’re trying to pass along detailed knowledge.

Echolynx Jul 23, 2025

I just saw this at work today for the first time from a younger person. No one I’ve ever emailed with has done summaries before. It took me by surprise. Especially because this is an organization that is built on reading things.

KuroiKaze Jul 21, 2025

Google Gemini will turn a block of text into a podcast convo to help people with this particular quirk. Have him try it out

Simulation6 Jul 21, 2025

Audio input of information is many factors slower than reading can be. Better to try and fix a reading problem.

AFK BRB Chocolate (CA version)Jul 21, 2025

The text in question would be behind a firewall, but I believe there’s a corporate LLM now. I’ll suggest it.

NevermindNoMind Jul 21, 2025

The Gemini podcast is going to condense your text and make it conversational, but it will necessarily lose detail in the process. A better recommendation is the Eleven Labs Reader, it’ll just read any text or file you throw at it with top tier voice models. Can use it for free and they have paid plans for more use. They also have a “podcast” generator option like Gemini, but I haven’t tried it so can’t vouch for the quality.

I use Eleven Labs all the time for things I want to read, like email newsletters, industry publications, etc but never find the time to sit down and read. Now I can have AI read them to me while I walk the dog. Super handy imo

AFK BRB Chocolate (CA version)Jul 21, 2025

Eleven Labs Reader

Thanks for the recommendation. For it to be useful for him, it would have to work on Windows (where the emails and documents he’s reading are). I’m seeing a phone app, do you know if there’s a windows one? I’m sure he’d have to have a paid version for corporate use.

TrackinDaKraken Jul 22, 2025

If someone is trying to convey important information, I’d rather get an email, than a text. And, I’d rather get a text than a voice call.

Writing requires thought to form sentence that make sense. And, forces the person to slow down a bit and gives them time to think about what they are staying. Also, they at least have the opportunity to read before they send, to check if they left anything out. Finally, and this is especially important in business, we have a “paper trail” that can be referred back to.

It took me years to stop the owner of the business I worked for to stop giving me instructions verbally. He did end-runs around shop policy to get his own pet projects prioritized. Policies that he put into place. Why do business owners sabotage their own businesses?

AFK BRB Chocolate (CA version)Jul 22, 2025

I’m with you, I like written things that I can digest and refer back to, though it’s worth mentioning that if you have questions, it much quicker to work through those face to face.