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From the Editors by Lucas Gelfond & Anabelle Johnston

syntaxmag.online · 235 words · saved by 1 readers

Digital media promised us new modes of reading. Instead, we got sound bites and “which One Direction member should you date” quizzes. Scrolling online became an experiment in self-defense: we’re bombarded by paywalls and pop-up ads, lured by A/B tested headlines and microtrend pieces. Conversely, we looked to the academy in earnest, but came back empty-handed. Internet culture could never be a ‘serious’ discipline, just as alien in media studies seminars as in computer science lectures. Off to the masses. Legacy media presents only a milquetoast imitation of the page. The commentariat bemoans the death of print, the death of the essay, the death of criticism. They blame an illiterate public, frizzled by Twitter and TikTok. We are not unsympathetic; these are our friends and heroes, whose writing we pass back and forth, whose sensibilities trickle into our own. But no one writes how we read. In chat rooms, comment sections, forums, personal blogs. The video essay, the playlist, Tumblr c

From the Editors by Syntax Syntax Change colors From the Editors Lucas Gelfond & Anabelle Johnston Digital media promised us new modes of reading. Instead, we got sound bites and “which One Direction member should you date” quizzes. Scrolling online became an experiment in self-defense: we’re bombarded by paywalls and pop-up ads, lured by A/B tested headlines and microtrend pieces. Conversely, we looked to the academy in earnest, but came back empty-handed. Internet culture could never be a ‘serious’ discipline, just as alien in media studies seminars as in computer science lectures. Off to th

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