Ew, are we post-literate?

We're not just consuming more video—we're living in a cultural shift toward digital orality, where communication is driven by repetition, performance, and emotional resonance rather than deep reading and abstract thought. In this episode of Today Explained, host Sean Ramos and guest Eric Levitz explore how the rise of TikTok-style clips is reshaping human cognition, politics, and social connection. Drawing on philosopher Walter Ong’s 1982 work *Orality and Literacy*, they argue that our current digital environment mirrors pre-literate societies: short, memorable phrases dominate, ideas are stripped of context, and status is gained through performative speech. This shift undermines the foundations of liberal democracy, which rely on abstract reasoning, long-form argumentation, and shared truth. Yet, the episode also warns against oversimplifying the link between literacy and virtue—figures like Peter Thiel and J.D. Vance are deeply read but still promote illiberal ideas. The real danger isn’t just that we’re reading less, but that AI and algorithmic design are engineering our attention for profit, eroding our memory, focus, and mental health. The solution? Intentionality: setting goals, taking breaks, and making our devices less stimulating. The future isn’t about rejecting technology—it’s about reclaiming agency in a world designed to distract. The episode reveals that attention is no longer a personal failing but a battleground engineered by platforms.