Although the way of communication is increasingly turning to multimedia, which consists of video and audio, the relevance of the traditional communication method, writing, has not yet ended. Despite the dynamic and ever-increasing trend of multimedia, the text form continues to maintain its critical place in disseminating information, learning by reading, and basic communication.
As a content, it is seen that in the text form, details and subtleties that are often overlooked in other forms can also be conveyed. While photos, videos, and even podcasts tend to convey information by summarizing it, the text form still goes into the subject in depth and is more comprehensive than the multimedia form and can examine the analyses in depth.
Here, it is necessary to understand the differences in the functions of text and multimedia-based content well.
Social media applications tend to ensure that users spend as much time as possible with themselves and work for this. Many different components, from algorithms that arrange content one after the other according to their interests to user experiences, are updated at certain intervals and developed with new functions in order to attract the consumer's attention more.
As there is a constant content movement and people's attention spans shorten, the duration of the videos created has also shortened. Content producers now expect to be noticed by people in this way and focus on content that supports this.
Shortening the duration of a content means shortening and trimming the subject mentioned when creating that content.
Another reason why multimedia content is more liked by consumers than text content is that the multimedia form interacts with human psychology more easily and quickly. Today, from the barber in our neighborhood to national agencies that manage funds for sustainable fishing, every user wants to be on social media be liked, have a high number of followers and ultimately feel valued. In these days when we live dependent on screens, it is certain that giving readers something colorful and interesting to watch seems more appealing than giving them something monotonous and boring looking text to read.
The speed of consumption of multimedia content is monotonous and the format always encourages the consumer to take the next action with the scrolling movement. When the user picks up their mobile phone and opens their favorite social media application, a video appears in front of them, they watch it or move on to the next one. In other words, while the user is watching a video, new videos are already lined up in the background for them to watch and waiting in line to be watched. It is completely up to the user how much they want to watch and in what way.
The place of the text form in learning
The text form is very important and valuable for creating in-depth content, such as academic research, legal documents and technical manuals, which are detailed, have to touch on many points and are critically important. A text written on physical material offers a comprehensive discovery map that helps the human mind understand concepts that seem complex and fine details that can be easily overlooked in other formats.
Although multimedia is an important tool in learning and teaching, texts are still very important in terms of allowing the reader to organize their thoughts while explaining complex topics step by step. Because in the text form, the reader interacts with the content at their own pace, according to their own needs and preferences.
If the reader wishes, he/she can quickly skip or completely skip sections that do not interest them, if they like a section, they read it more carefully, when they experience confusion in their mind about the course of the story, they go back to one of the previous sections, re-read a section they like, underline the text and think about it.
During this time, the text does not flow by itself and the reader does not miss anything in the background.
This situation and reading behavior help people develop critical thinking and problem-solving skills. Since the event structure narrated in the text flows through reading, that is, with an active method, the probability of remembering it later is higher than the information obtained by listening or watching. Therefore, it seems wrong to define the flow of the text form as linearly flowing forward like in multimedia.
While reading provides a direct active learning experience, watching multimedia content and trying to learn by listening is a passive method because it usually does not require active thinking while listening to something.
Can you take a break and think about where information about history is obtained?
With texts.
Today, texts written on clay and stone tablets are still found through archaeological excavations. A device with a screen such as a mobile phone, tablet or television is essential for accessing content in multimedia form, but the text can be easily written on any surface, it needs less special tools and places for archiving and it has more possibilities to be used as a reference.
As a result, even though we are rapidly evolving, changing and transforming in the digital age, the text form maintains its unique role and place in conveying in-depth, qualified and comprehensive information to others.
In the face of multimedia content experiences that have become more associated with fast consumption and sensory appeal, the text form stands in an important place as an analogue tool alongside the digital, feeding analytical thinking, conveying information with higher permanence and enabling complex concepts to be processed systematically.
Texts have allowed us to keep a record of history and will continue to carry our intellectual heritage. It would be a mistake to say that one or both of the multimedia and text forms will disappear in the near future or that they will overcome each other and manage to fade the other. These two are still complementary forms that respond to different needs that arise in different situations and elements that make life even richer.
Images are created by Imagen 3.
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