Thread by @cmccrudden

Whenever some technology scold says:

"Smartphones & social media are a scourge on society"

I like to remember how people in power used to view novels. As a scourge on society.

This is what 'The Youth's Religious Instructor' said about children's books in 1820.

Headline 2018: SOCIAL MEDIA IS AS ADDICTIVE AS CRACK

Headline 1930: BOOKWORMS ARE LIKE ALCOHOLICS

Thinkpiece, early 21st century: PUT YOUR PHONE DOWN AND EXPERIENCE REAL LIFE

Thinkpiece early 20th century: PUT YOUR BOOK DOWN AND EXPERIENCE REAL LIFE

Tabloid news 2016: SOCIAL MEDIA TEARS FAMILIES APART

Tabloid news 1916: READING BOOKS MAKES YOU A BAD MOTHER

Cultural commentator 2018: Social media makes us unhappy

Archbishop of York 1864: Reading gives people (i.e. the proles) unrealistic expectations

And don't get me started on the way novel reading (even within novels) was seen as an indication of bad character until relatively recently.

Emma Bovary came a cropper because she read romantic fiction.

Headline 2015: SOCIAL MEDIA DESTROYS OUR MENTAL HEALTH

Headline 1615: MAN GOES MAD AFTER READING TOO MUCH FICTION

https://twitter.com/i_am_mill_i_am/status/1032935741301682176

Now: Smartphones & social media are dangerous because they lead some users to question power relationships we're supposed to take at face value

Then: Novels are dangerous because they lead readers to question power relationships we're supposed to take at face value