The Epidemic of Performative Reading

Performative reading is the act of collecting ideas we will never absorb, to feel like someone who absorbs ideas.

We see an article. People are raving. We bookmark it.

We might not read it. We know this. We bookmark it anyway.

This performance has no audience. We are performing for ourselves. Playing the role of someone who keeps up.

We cannot blame the writers. Titles get optimized. Clicks get counted. They are playing the game. Why would they not?

The cost is ours alone. The bookmark folder grows. Each item is a small broken promise. Evidence of the gap between who we are and who we hope to be.

This is not learning. This is the theater of learning, staged for an audience of one.

Read it now, or close the tab.

The middle path costs more than either.