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Click bait –
The Dangers of Reading in Bed!
Fire erupts!
Dangerous Solitude!
Unhealthy immoral practices!
Selfishness!
If headlines from the 17th and 18th century read like modern clickbait, and, really, headlines always have, titles like the above would have flagged the new and crazy practice of reading ALONE IN BED. Find out more in The Atlantic May 19, 2017 post by Nika Mavrody in “The Dangers of Reading in Bed”.
The article is a well-researched and sociology-leaning article about what happens when technology changes society. Books became more common, and more people had private space and time. First the society shifted to having more books available with the printing press. But still expensive. Then they became less expensive, but the reading skill was limited. Displacing storytelling, public reading evolved as the norm. Someone who could read would read aloud to a group. Interactive reading with questions, noise, and interruptions.
Around about the same time, sleeping changed from shared sleep space in the one-room houses, to rooms dedicated to sleeping – with real doors to close other people out. Real readers now had the opportunity to read in private without interruption. They grabbed it with both hands.
This group of people, the private reader, crossed all lines of society.
The combination major change with reading and sleeping habits upset the society standard, and people were chastised for changing.
Sound familiar?
Like all of human history?
Again, find out more about this deviant practice here: https://www.theatlantic.com/technology/archive/2017/05/reading-in-bed/527388/