# Could Screens Erode Our Ability to Read a Paragraph by Keith Devlin > “We may be moving toward a generation that is cognitively unable to acquire information efficiently by reading a paragraph. They can read words and sentences — such as the bits of text you find on a graphical display on a web page — but they are not equipped to assimilate structured information that requires a paragraph to get across.” > **— Keith Devlin**, *2000 Edge Annual Question, response passage* ## Sources and Context - **Original Edge response:** [The Death of the Paragraph — Keith Devlin](https://www.edge.org/response-detail/11380) — a verbatim passage from Keith Devlin's 2000 Annual Question response, expressing the author's position at the time. The linked response supplies its surrounding context. - **Local archival entry:** [[research/Edge 2000 Full Quotation Curation|Edge 2000 Full Quotation Curation]] (EDGE2000-037). ## Related Articles and Collections - **Collection:** [[collections/Edge|Edge]] - **Collection:** [[collections/Consciousness Continuity|Consciousness Continuity]] - **Article:** [[articles/The Art is Long|The Art is Long]] - **Article:** [[articles/Technologies for Consciousness Mapping and Transfer|Technologies for Consciousness Mapping and Transfer]] - **Article:** [[articles/Digital Darwinism and the Invisible World of Machine Evolution|Digital Darwinism and the Invisible World of Machine Evolution]] ## Related Topics - [[wiki/Cognitive Exteriorization|Cognitive Exteriorization]] ## Share on Social Media ``` “We may be moving toward a generation that is cognitively unable to acquire information efficiently by reading a paragraph. They can read words and sentences — such as the bits of text you find on a graphical display on a web page — but they are not equipped to assimilate structured information that requires a paragraph to get across.” — Keith Devlin, 2000 Edge Annual Question https://bryantmcgill.com/simple-reminders-keith-devlin-screens-erode-ability-read-paragraph ```