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Q: In a world of rapidly propagating means to deliver content digitally, why “regress” to print?
A: While it is true that the Internet and other media are efficient in moving information, they have not proven to be places of deep reading and reflecting. The very place of consumption – the screen – can be a place that is inherently distracting and too fast-paced to settle a man’s mind into higher thought and self-examination. The habit of the screen is to bounce from thing to thing, not dwell on the truly worthwhile. Good reading causes man to stop and think. “Good browsing” causes man to go faster and not think. Even the best of content is crowded by ads and consumerism, and, therefore, so are the ideas themselves.
Therefore, the act of reading S&S is not only receiving information that is helpful, but in developing the very habits necessary for wisdom. Reading itself is an image of active receptivity (along with listening, praying, and seeing). Active receptivity is the posture of a son of God. Digital media can be effective and useful, but it remains a form of noise inwardly. A print publication, like a sword or spade, is an effective tool in the hands of a man and in and of itself is an act of discipline (teaching).
“There is a great deal of difference between an eager man who wants to read a book and the tired man who wants a book to read.”
– G.K. Chesterton