I'm a reader, and I'm not apologising for that

I’m republishing some of my social media content - this was posted on LinkedIn earlier this year.

I love reading. I’ve been an avid reader since the age of 8. I pretty much inhale books.

Generally, I remember a lot of what I read, sadly not all any more, but a decent chunk.

Despite the rise of audio and video, reading is STILL my preferred way to get information. I don’t have to make time or find a quiet space to listen (no, I will NOT be playing audio or video out loud in public spaces). I don’t have to find my headphones which have mysteriously vanished into another room. I can just immediately get to the content.

Why don’t I listen more? Lots of reasons:

- My commute to my desk is 5 seconds, so I don’t have a long journey for listening.

- When I walk, the silence feeds my creativity, so there’s no music on, and even my fitness tracker stays on vibrate.

- I can’t listen to anything with words or lyrics when I write, or it ends up on the page.

All of that limits my potential listening time. And frankly, my brain just responds better to written information. I know I can’t be the only person for whom that’s true.

So when someone sends me a podcast or video, I look for the transcript. Not the show notes, the FULL rundown of what’s on the media file. If it’s not there, then it may take me a while to get to that content. And that while may turn into never. I want the info, but if I can’t read it, the moment may be lost.

Transcripts are a must for accessibility, so we ought to provide them anyway. They’re also good for reading-first people like me, too. I’d love to see more of them. Thank you!