Long Reads: In Darkness Let Me Dwell

Woman Reading Book with Orange, 2009, Georgy Kurasov  

A common perception, while referring to digital consumption, is that short-form content owns the feed, while long form content owns the mind.

But does this perception even hold any truth when algorithmic incentives typically dominate what and how we consume content in rapid-scrolling digital environments? Most people increasingly prefer quick, skimmable content to complex, intellectually stimulating writing offering deep analysis in the form of long reads.

Long-form journalistic and literary pieces are resource-heavy. Despite undergoing weeks or months of research, fact-checking, and editing, these pieces almost never reach the threshold of what can be termed a success or “hit” in the viral economy controlled by algorithms. Over the last decade, many publishers have either downsized to produce cheaper, faster content to meet that “hit” threshold or closed, citing economic reasons as their advertising revenue sank long before the emergence and popularity of generative artificial intelligence (GenAI).

Broader cultural shifts also drove people away from immersive reading. And there are large-scale studies and robust research to support the evidence that leisure reading itself in the US – and elsewhere – has drastically declined.

With doomscrolling, streaming, and short-form videos notably decreasing patience and the time needed for sustained focus, almost forty percent of Americans now read no books, according to a report by Smithsonian and the Guardian. Separately, a study jointly conducted by University College London and the University of Florida analyzed more than a quarter million Americans between 2003 and 2023 and concluded that daily reading for pleasure declined by about three percent per year during that period.

Then came 2025. Google's integration of AI Overviews into its search engine, which was immediately followed by other search engines, wrecked referral web traffic and pushed publishers to experience dramatic drops in expected clicks on their websites. In several cases, news and tech publications have experienced a decline in organic search traffic of between fifty and eighty-five percent between 2024 and 2026, with answers from GenAI tools appearing above traditional web links in search engines.

The trend does not just portray various aspects of journalism, including long-form literary narratives, it has now become part of a broader withdrawal from long-form anything – long-form magazine articles, essays, books, in-depth editorial columns etc. – that requires time, patience, and attention to immerse oneself in.

Despite the influence of algorithms, cultural shifts shaping readers’ habits, and the attention economy aimed at benefiting from the cognitive shallowing of minds soaked with social media and short-form content, long reads are neither "dying" nor “dead.” The format is far from extinct. It is, however, transforming itself into a powerhouse that directly reaches readers and audiences inclined to pay for and commit to intellectual engagement and depth.

With the GenAI rapidly attempting to replace our thinking by significantly minimizing the time and steps it takes to find their answers, surface mastery and intellectual passivity risk disparaging our ability to develop deep understanding and perform intelligence to find answers to our questions.

Books, essays, and long investigative pieces are not about elitism and should matter to more than just intellectually engaged minds. Now more than ever, we need human brains to build depth, judgement, and meaning, and to become analytical and reflective.

Will (not) to Power

Prisoners' Round, Vincent van Gogh, 1890

No theory is perfect, and recognizing this is key to accountability.

Nietzsche's "will to power," the core of his metaphysics and psychology, is the fundamental drive present in all living beings, including humans. He suggested in his writings that our desire to express ourselves, take charge of our lives, and reach our full potential is more fundamental than our desire to simply live.

In people, this "will to power" manifests as ambition and creativity. It also makes us try to impose order on a chaotic world. In societies, the "will to power" manifests as hierarchies, cultural values, and societal beliefs.

The Übermensch, or "Overman," is one of Nietzsche's ideas. It refers to someone who has overcome the "slave morality" seen in traditional religious and societal norms. The Übermensch does not believe in blindly accepting given meanings, calling the herd mentality "herd morality." They create their own principles. They live life to the fullest. This includes all its suffering and uncertainty.

Two Women Racing On Fish, Brynolf Wennerberg, 1914

But is the will to power truly achievable?

Despite being regarded as one of the most impactful philosophical ideas, the practicality of the "will to power" concept has constantly been questioned and criticized. Some critics dismiss it as an unproven metaphysical claim masquerading as a psychological theory. Postwar thinkers, particularly those from the Frankfurt School, loathed Nietzsche's concept of the will to power because, in their view, it celebrated control and domination and supported nationalism and anti-Semitism, even though Nietzsche himself openly abhorred these ideologies.

Some also view the concept as condoning the idea of one group being superior to and having the power to control another group. According to this perspective, the target of this domination is a passive or disorganized "other," such as women, marginalized communities, and non-European cultures.

The imperfections of any theoretical framework mean that the future remains ambiguous and open to questioning. The moment a perfect theory is obtained, the motivation to think is lost because the theoretical limit has been reached. Nietzsche's "will to power" is an impressive way of looking at things. But it is just an interpretation. And it is debatable. Therefore, it cannot be the last word. As Nietzsche himself said, "There are no facts, only interpretations."

You either face your demons, or they will raise your children

The Party on the Stairs (1875) by Adelaide Claxton

“A lot of people have kids. Not enough people are parents.” Ryan Holiday’s book The Daily Dad begins with a grim statement that captures the reality of parenting, which, to most parents, is more like checking boxes. Taking your kids to school, putting food on their table, buying them clothes, taking them to Disneyland, and buying them their favorite toys.

On an online forum, likely Reddit, someone who worked as a nanny for ten years and helped raise several children noted in a post that the most negative elements impacting a child generally come from - and are passed to them by - their parents’ unresolved trauma. And this is the part, she wrote, where she feels powerless while caring for a child. This is because resolving logistical issues is easy, but fixing the psychological and emotional issues that are results of being passed from their parents is extremely cumbersome - if not impossible - for others to do.

Regarding the unfulfilled desires of parents, unresolved issues, and emotional patterns that are unconsciously - and often consciously - passed between generations, particularly to children, Carl Jung famously said, "The greatest burden a child must bear is the unlived life of the parents.”

“Interpretation in terms of the parents is, however, simply a façon de parler. In reality the whole drama takes place in the individual’s own psyche, where the “parents” are not the parents at all but only their imagos: they are representations which have arisen from the conjunction of parental peculiarities with the individual disposition of the child”. - Jung, Symbols of Transformation (1912)

Going and Coming (1947) by Norman Rockwell  

Avoiding our insecurities, fears, and unhealthy patterns doesn't make them disappear. Instead, these issues unconsciously influence and control how we parent and relate to our children. Someone with unresolved issues linked to anger and aggression who has normalizing yelling and shouting will likely do the same with their children involuntarily and unconsciously. Similarly, a child with impulsivity and inattention may have been unconsciously influenced and “trained” by their parents to live that way.

As ideological polarization rises in the U.S., an obvious example of this "cognitive distortion" is parents holding orthodox and socially unhealthy views on race, region, sexuality, and politics, and unconsciously passing their beliefs to their children through the behaviors they exhibit and the remarks they make in their daily lives.

As the saying goes, children are like sponges. They absorb an enormous amount of information without much conscious effort. They absorb not only what they learn from their parents explicitly, but also their insecurities, fears, coping mechanisms, and blind spots. These learned patterns are how kids relate to and respond to the world, enabling dysfunction to be passed to the next generation.

The journey of a parent isn't just about the parent. In many ways, it’s as much about the children as it is about the parents. One of the goals of parenting should be to break the cycle and prevent unhealthy, painful patterns from reaching the next generation. You either face your demons, or they will raise your children.