It is arguable that the skills our children will need have to do with visual communication, not written. Is it? Make the case. I’m not seeing it. Sorry, but I almost never video chat with my friends. A couple that live far away, maybe once a week or so. Those same friends, as well as the ones who live near me? I communicate via written word (texting, twitter, IM, Facebook, email, etc) every single day. You could take away the video chatting and it’d suck, but we’d still communicate regularly. You could not take away the written word and not have our friendships become largely estranged. I would rather text/email/IM a friend about where and when we’re meeting, if my weekend was good, and how their friend is a dumbass when drunk than call them for those same issues. And video chat? It’s just so clunky and crappy quality and more a novel idea than a novel reality.
Visual mediums are more readily accessible, sure. That doesn’t mean they replace other parts of our lives. There are times I’d rather watch a video on something than read – but, it’s usually that I’d rather watch a well-done documentary than read a poorly-done textbook. But do I want to watch a 9 minute video on financial aid applications (85% of which is not new info, but that 15% of new material is buried at the 6:46 mark, so I have to watch the entire thing, thus wasting 8.5 minutes of my life on your pompous, self-involved need for the limelight, because video is the only option and there’s no transcript) instead of reading all that info in a 3 page form? No. Seriously, it’s amazing how quickly I will hate you (hate you) if you make me watch a video instead of letting me read. Videos are long, boring, and repetitive. They spend a good 30 seconds to 3 minutes just on a nice opener called “look at this cool special effects I found out I can do”. Then it’s boring, unnecessary intro talk (Hi, I’m Mia, I’m here to talk to you about curling your hair today. Because, you know, curling hair is the cornerstone of a good look, and… – barf!) instead of just cutting to the meat of the issue. I can usually read that same material in 45 seconds (skimming, because that’s really all you need), but a video will take 8 minutes. I never click on YouTube links posted here (especially ones that don’t tell me what they are beforehand), because it means spending 4 minutes trying to get to the joke you could have typed in 15 seconds. Videos just take so much more time out of our lives when we’re trying to make things more efficient.
The rise of YouTube is also the rise of Twitter and Facebook and blogging and Fluther. More and more people turn away from watching to news to reading that one article on the website. Kindles and iPads – ebook readers – are in vogue. And try getting by in college without reading – you’ll fail by the end of the first week. Sorry, but it’s a bit too hip to be square for reading to be on its way out.