Why is text still the best medium to change someone?
I have found that the most significant changes in my attitude/perspective have been after reading some book/article/essay/tweet. I can't say the same about movies/videos/podcasts/audiobooks. Is this the case with everyone?
If its true isn't it paradoxical that a medium(video) which can engage so many of our senses(vision, sound) is able to influence us less than a medium(text) that isn't even natural to humans. Also the bandwith of information transfer to the brain is a fraction in text compared to video.
One explanation could be that the text being a low fidelity channel is actually a positive. It leaves out many details that the reader then fills using their imagination. And ones own imagination is more powerful in influencing oneself than the imagination of some director.
I don't really buy this explanation. For eg: Does hearing a story in an audiobook have more influence than watching the movie version?
The explanation that I am leaning towards right now is that text is the only current consumption medium that is pull and not push model. By pull I mean the reader is pulling content at a rate of the reader's choosing. By contrast video, podcast, audiobooks etc are all push based.
Since the reader pulls content out of a book/article/essay the reader can pause and internalize the content. They can associate, experiment, simulate and coagulate the new content with past experiences and stored knowledge. In other words while reading you can pause to think.
Assuming this explanation is true, can we consume video content using a pull model. You could today do that by pausing the video to take time to think and internalize. But, it's not as effortless as pausing while reading. And hence it's impractical to pause as frequently. What if the video would automatically pause when you look away and resume when you look back at the screen?
By pull I mean the reader is pulling content at a rate of the reader's choosing
Youtube provides keyboard shortcuts to control speed, jump forward/back etc [1]. I haven't used this till now, but it may improve the viewer's ability to pull content at their desired rate.
[1]: Hit "?" on Youtube to see the shortcuts or see https://support.google.com/youtube/answer/7631406 for details