Sign in

Stephen Harrison

@stephenharrison.com
1.2K followers 472 following 321 posts

Print advocate and journalist. Writing a book about the value of paper & ink for St. Martin’s Press. Rep’d by Mark Gottlieb, Trident Media Group. stephenharrison.com

PostsRepliesMedia
Stephen Harrison @stephenharrison.com · 26/09/2026
Been reading reviews of James Marriott’s new book, “The New Dark Ages,” on the passing of the print age. It’s been covered by the leading British newspapers, but I think the best piece has come from the Cherwell, Oxford’s student newspaper. Smart to make it a bit more personal.
111
Stephen Harrison @stephenharrison.com · 09/05/2026
Worth noting that Pope Leo’s background is Augustinian. St. Augustine is the patron saint of printers. www.ncregister.com/cna/pope-leo...
050
Stephen Harrison @stephenharrison.com · 11/03/2026
One lovely part of book research is reading these deep cuts
Screenshot of an old news article with a yellow banner reading “This article is more than 22 years old.” The headline reads “Audible revolution.” The subheadline says: “Online radio is booming thanks to iPods, cheap audio software and weblogs, reports Ben Hammersley.”
020
Stephen Harrison @stephenharrison.com · 22/02/2026
*sigh* There comes a time in every millennial’s life when you’re officially recast as the old guy. Thanks to @vox.com for making me sound ancient in this otherwise fantastic piece about Wikipedia’s role in the age of AI. www.vox.com/culture/4787...
Tech journalist Stephen Harrison, who covered Wikipedia on Slate for years, told Vox that he sees the LLM partnerships as “recognition” by tech companies that “their long-term future depends on nurturing projects like Wikipedia.” He’s more concerned about the political attacks the platform has faced recently from people like Elon Musk. (Last year, Musk criticized and called to defund Wikipedia after his entry was updated to note a gesture he made during Trump’s inauguration that was widely interpreted as a Nazi salute. He’s since launched the rival website Grokipedia, with entries edited by his company xAI.) Harrison is also concerned about internet users “forgetting” about Wikipedia if they’re mainly consuming the site’s content through AI summaries.Harrison, meanwhile, sees independent creators, like Depths of Wikipedia, as crucial in keeping Wikipedia’s brand alive. “Social media influencers rely on Wikipedia as a sort of invisible foundation for their knowledge,” he said. For now, all the “old internet” nostalgia on TikTok gives him some hope for a revival.

“I grew up when Wikipedia was considered the Wild West of the internet,” he said. “It’s really remarkable how Wikipedia has, in a lot of ways, become this storied institution that people have all these feelings of nostalgia and affection toward.”
041
Stephen Harrison @stephenharrison.com · 18/02/2026
The Internet Archive stores physical books, preserving them as a back-up to digitization. Whereas AI companies despise the physical world so much they’ve shredded millions of books and tried to hide the evidence.
Screenshot of a Cybercultural article titled “Preserving Media: A Visit to the Physical Internet Archive.”Screenshot of a Futurism article with the headline “Anthropic Knew the Public Would Be Disgusted by How It Was Destroying Physical Books, Secret Documents Reveal.”
030
Stephen Harrison @stephenharrison.com · 06/02/2026
As a thought experiment, I’ve been updating the references in a few passages from Neil Postman’s Amusing Ourselves to Death (1985). What do you think?
To take a simple example of what this means, consider the primitive relatively recent technology of smoke signals short-form video. While I do not know exactly what content was once is carried in the smoke signals of American Indians typical TikTok post or Instagram reel, I can safely assume it did does not include philosophical argument. Puffs of smoke One minute shorts are insufficiently complex to express ideas on the nature of existence, and even if they were not, a Cherokee philosopher short-form content creator would run short of either wood or blankets lose the audience’s attention long before he they reached his their second axiom. You cannot use smoke short-form video to do philosophy. Its form excludes the content.Book cover: Amusing Ourselves to Death
031
Stephen Harrison @stephenharrison.com · 04/02/2026
Most writing about the Attention Crisis is gloomy, for good reason. But I appreciate this little book by Prof. Alan Jacobs because he highlights the rewards that come from the struggle of deep reading, as in this passage:
Book cover: The Pleasures of Reading in the Age of Distraction Some forms of intellectual labor are worth the trouble. In those times when Whim isn’t quite enough [to read deeply], times that will come to us all, we discover this. Such work strengthens our minds, makes us more capable of concentration, teaches us patience—and almost certainly a touch of humility as well, as we struggle to navigate the difficult (if elegant) terrain of Hume’s prose. But what do we have more need for, in our whirling mental worlds, than strength and concentration and patience and humility? These are virtues worth aspiring to, especially because they lead to new and greater delights.
010
Stephen Harrison @stephenharrison.com · 02/02/2026
the Onion needs to update this for 2026 to mention AI summaries & give us one cause it’s too long
the ONION
America’s Finest News Source

Monday, February 2, 2026 29° Menu

Dispatch

Nation Shudders At Large Block Of Uninterrupted TextPublished: March 9, 2010

WASHINGTON—Unable to rest their eyes on a colorful photograph or boldface heading that could be easily skimmed and forgotten about, Americans collectively recoiled Monday when confronted with a solid block of uninterrupted text.

Dumbfounded citizens from Maine to California gazed helplessly at the frightening chunk of print, unsure of what to do next. Without an illustration, chart, or embedded YouTube video to ease them in, millions were frozen in place, terrified by the sight of one long, unbroken string of English words.

“Why won’t it just tell me what it’s about?” said Boston resident Charlyne Thomson, who was bombarded with the overwhelming mass of black text late Monday afternoon. “There are no bullet points, no highlighted parts. I’ve looked
010
Stephen Harrison @stephenharrison.com · 01/02/2026
Eighty-four percent of Americans say they’ve adopted analogue habits to create boundaries with screens. Writing in notebooks leads the list at 32%, followed by reading printed books at 31% and using paper calendars at 28%.
RELEVANT: Gen Z Is Cutting Back on Screen Time More Than Any Other Generation

A new survey reveals that 63% of Gen Z limit their screen time, the highest rate of any age group.
051
Stephen Harrison @stephenharrison.com · 29/01/2026
While a lot of folks are understandably concerned about the loss of mass market paperbacks, there’s perhaps a more positive interpretation of this story. 🧵 1/5
Headline: Last Call for Mass Market Paperbacks
120
Stephen Harrison @stephenharrison.com · 27/01/2026
This news means a lot to me. I'm writing my first nonfiction book, THE POWER OF PRINT, about why we think differently with paper versus screens, and why we should all aspire to reclaim our print brains. Coming 2027 from St. Martin's Press. @stmartinspress.bsky.social
Journalist and tech insider with bylines in the NYT and WP Stephen Harrison's THE POWER OF PRINT: THE CASE FOR PAPER & INK IN THE AGE OF TECHNOLOGY, pitched for readers of Jonathan Haidt's THE ANXIOUS GENERATION and Johann Hari's STOLEN FOCUS, with a foreword from Master Class founder Aaron Rasmussen, a science-backed case for why paper and ink—not screens—are humanity's most powerful tools for focus, memory, and clear thinking in the age of AI, to Peter Wolverton at St. Martin's, by Mark Gottlieb at Trident Media Group (NA).
3102
Stephen Harrison @stephenharrison.com · 24/01/2026
Worth reading the whole piece but here is Twenge’s conclusion
“Although it once seemed like a good idea to give every child his or her own device, it’s clear that those policies have been a failure. It may be possible to harness the power of school devices more judiciously, with little to no device use in lower grades, and high school students given laptops strictly limited to relevant apps. We could go further, creating completely device-free schools with rare exceptions for students with special needs. It would be back to the textbooks, paper and pencil of previous eras — when the most significant classroom distraction was students passing notes.

Many adults struggle to concentrate on work when social media, shopping and movies are just a click away. Imagine how much more difficult it is for a 16-year-old, much less an 11-year-old, to focus in the same situation. Asking students to drill down on their schoolwork amid an array of digital distractions isn’t just bad for test scores; it is inimical to learning.

And it is fundamentally unfair to our children.”
010
Stephen Harrison @stephenharrison.com · 03/01/2026
As we start 2026, I’m grateful for the sharp, thoughtful people I’ve met on Bluesky, but I also want to keep in mind what my favorite contemporary philosopher says about posting:
“Nor can the ‘stories’ shared on social media fill the narrative vacuum. They are merely forms of pornographic self-presentation and self-promotion. Posting, liking and sharing content are consumerist practices that intensify the narrative crisis.”The Crisis of Narration, book by Byung-Chul Han
000
Stephen Harrison @stephenharrison.com · 22/12/2025
We can form intense ties with analog objects over years of use. That’s why Flaubert asked to be buried with his inkwell. But digital tech is mostly disposable. We value its connection to the infosphere, not the thing itself. No one’s dying wish is to be buried with AI glasses.
Bright image with text: “Last Minute Shopping Tips”
010
Stephen Harrison @stephenharrison.com · 19/12/2025
Now imagine Hugo was born in 2012. Instead of empty notebooks, he would have access to the infinite feed. Throughout adolescence, his phone would provide constant stimulation. Never bored, he’d have no time or space, and no compulsion, to create.
Sketch by Victor Hugo
010
Stephen Harrison @stephenharrison.com · 19/12/2025
Víctor Hugo, born 1802 in Eastern France, spent his teenage years filling notebooks with poetry and sketches. Eruptions from his restless mind. He developed a two-handed approach—one hand writing, the other drawing—that he’d later use while writing classics like The Hunchback of Notre Dame (cont.)
Sketch with writing by Victor Hugo
110
Stephen Harrison @stephenharrison.com · 18/12/2025
James Cooney Horvath raises this example in his new book. I’m halfway through and appreciating his argument.
Cover of the book, “The Digital Delusion”
120
Stephen Harrison @stephenharrison.com · 11/12/2025
Today I learned that Albert Wenger, head of the VC firm that originally backed Twitter, has this sticker on the back of his phone
A close-up of a person’s hand holding a black smartphone with a large white sticker on the back that reads “SCROLLING KILLS” in bold black letters.
010
Stephen Harrison @stephenharrison.com · 10/12/2025
Case study in the enduring power of print: BookTok creator Jack Edwards reaches millions of readers with his online videos, but always dreamed of seeing his work in physical form. He's now a books columnist for British Esquire and made a video about the thrill of tracking down a copy of the magazine
Jack Edwards, BookTok creator, at the news agentJack Edwards, BookTok creator, at the news agent
010
Stephen Harrison @stephenharrison.com · 08/12/2025
“The medium is the message.” Johann Hari on the message of printed books:
After thinking all this, I would return to the printed books I was piling up against the wall of my beach house. What, I wondered, is the message buried in the medium of the printed book? Before the words convey their specific meaning, the medium of the book tells us several things. Firstly, life is complex, and if you want to understand it, you have to set aside a fair bit of time to think deeply about it. You need to slow down. Secondly, there is a value in leaving behind your other concerns and narrowing down your attention to one thing, sentence after sentence, page after page. Thirdly, it is worth thinking deeply about how other people live and how their minds work. They have complex inner lives just like you.I realized that I agree with the messages in the medium of the book. I think they are true. I think they encourage the best parts of human nature—that a life with lots of episodes of deep focus is a good life. It is why reading books nourishes me. And I don’t agree with the messages in the medium of social media. I think they primarily feed the uglier and shallower parts of my nature. It is why spending time on these sites—even when, by the rules of the game, I am doing well, gaining likes and followers—leaves me feeling drained and unhappy. I like the person I become when I read a lot of books. I dislike the person I become when I spend a lot of time on social media.
040
Stephen Harrison @stephenharrison.com · 05/12/2025
When I argue for the benefits of physical books, people tell me that every generation misses the old ways. But no, this isn’t pure nostalgia. Yes, my dad used to complain about decline back in the 90s, but the scores weren't plummeting then. Today they're in a free fall.
Test scores across OECD countries in decline
051
Stephen Harrison @stephenharrison.com · 01/12/2025
At first I avoided O’Dell’s book, assuming it was mostly about chilling out. It covers that, yes, but it’s really a defense of *all* activities that aren’t commercially productive but “produce” value which can’t be measured or exploited. Bird-watching, contemplation, wandering through a labyrinth…
Cover of “How to Do Nothing” by Jenny O’Dell
040
Stephen Harrison @stephenharrison.com · 22/11/2025
At the local coffee shop this morning, reading “Non-things” and thinking about why sitting with a physical book feels so different from scrolling. There’s a calmness to print that the feed can never give you.
Photo of Han’s book “Non-things”Quote from Han’s book “Non-things”
010
Stephen Harrison @stephenharrison.com · 20/11/2025
Needed a break from thinking about Wikipedia so I’m reading this. The author is a rare books librarian at Oxford’s Bodleian and her little guidebook is delightful.
Looking After Your Books by Francesca Galligan
0201
Stephen Harrison @stephenharrison.com · 28/10/2025
called it again
“Every major AI system trains on Wikipedia’s freely licensed knowledge,” said Stephen Harrison, a journalist and author who has covered Wikipedia extensively, on Friday. “The irony is that Grokipedia will be built on the unpaid labor of the volunteer Wikipedia editors Musk has gone out of his way to vilify.” —Washington Post
0111
Stephen Harrison @stephenharrison.com · 28/10/2025
called it
“Every major AI system trains on Wikipedia’s freely licensed knowledge,” said Stephen Harrison, a journalist and author who has covered Wikipedia extensively, on Friday. “The irony is that Grokipedia will be built on the unpaid labor of the volunteer Wikipedia editors Musk has gone out of his way to vilify.” —Washington Post
213945
Stephen Harrison @stephenharrison.com · 28/10/2025
wasn’t my most out-there take, but still… called it
“Every major AI system trains on Wikipedia’s freely licensed knowledge,” said Stephen Harrison, a journalist and author who has covered Wikipedia extensively, on Friday. “The irony is that Grokipedia will be built on the unpaid labor of the volunteer Wikipedia editors Musk has gone out of his way to vilify.”  —Washington Post
09629
Stephen Harrison @stephenharrison.com · 27/10/2025
Seems likely that Grokipedia will suffer from Grok’s, um, issues… www.washingtonpost.com/technology/2...
Quote from Washington Post piece
010
Stephen Harrison @stephenharrison.com · 27/10/2025
Excellent @willoremus.com piece about the launch of Grokipedia, Elon’s historical relationship with Wikipedia, and whether AI language models (as opposed to humans) are good enough to write a trustworthy encyclopedia. On that point, I agree with @jimmywales.bsky.social Gift link: wapo.st/47PKzTd
142
Stephen Harrison @stephenharrison.com · 16/10/2025
“The landscape thinks itself in me, and I am in its consciousness.” —Paul Cézanne
Landscape by Paul Cezanne
010
Stephen Harrison @stephenharrison.com · 01/10/2025
The biggest Wikipedia news this week? Amazon sold out of “The Editors.” Don’t worry, it’ll be back in stock soon and in the meantime, you can grab a copy other places.
131
Stephen Harrison @stephenharrison.com · 29/09/2025
no one tells you that a huge part of being a Wikipedia beat journalist in 2025 is people emailing “the Wiki page for Tylenol is really weird right now,” detailing the debate over disambiguation links, then acting surprised you haven’t landed the Wikitylenol story on the front page of The NY Times
no one tells you that a huge part of being a culture journalist in 2025 is a publicist emailing you something like, "Do you want to go Zara Larson's caviar launch sponsored by Toyota?" and when you say "no" they're like "WHY!!!!?"
061
Stephen Harrison @stephenharrison.com · 20/09/2025
Thomas Mallon with an unexpected benefit of keeping a diary.
I can recall a few times when during the day I’ve decided not to do something (usually something small and mean) because I realized that if I did it I’d have to mention it to the diary that night.
010
Stephen Harrison @stephenharrison.com · 07/09/2025
Last week, the leaders of Meta, Alphabet, OpenAI, and Apple took turns praising Trump at a White House dinner. Not in the room: the leaders of Wikipedia, the volunteer editors who curate and maintain the internet's knowledge.
052
Stephen Harrison @stephenharrison.com · 04/09/2025
quick notes from @biblioracle.bsky.social’s book: -automation ≠ artificial intelligence -writing is thinking -writing is feeling -framework for thinking about AI: resist, renew, explore -remember that we are embodied creatures, not machines
021
Stephen Harrison @stephenharrison.com · 26/08/2025
I miss the old em dash discourse. 2011: They disrupt the flow and should be used sparingly—like javelins hurled across the page. Modern prose has too many interruptions. 2025: They prove you cheated with AI. Leave in typos so we know you're human. Good writing is inherently suspicious.
2022 Slate piece on em dashes2025 Slate piece on em dashes
020
Stephen Harrison @stephenharrison.com · 23/08/2025
An older woman in a D.C. book club annotated my Wikipedia-inspired novel like it was a spy dossier. "Political websites - biased propaganda" "Recruitment! Bribery! Double agent!" "How can we TRUST anything?"
021
Stephen Harrison @stephenharrison.com · 19/08/2025
Audie Cornish (CNN host): Why would the generation that was raised on TikToks and hashtag activism turn to paper? Kennedy McDaniel (zine maker): Do I want my reach to be broad? Or do I want it go deep?
Zines not Hashtags: Gen Z’s New Protest Playbook
081
Stephen Harrison @stephenharrison.com · 13/08/2025
If you’re curious, THE EDITORS is still out there, both online and in a few brick-and-mortar stores. Cheers to the long game of writing and reading. 3/3
Bookstore counter display – A woman with works at a bookstore counter in front of a brick wall with an events poster. On the counter is a stack of THE EDITORS books displayed upright, showing the cover.
030
Stephen Harrison @stephenharrison.com · 13/08/2025
But the real magic of books is private, when someone discovers them in their own time. A year later, I’m still getting emails from first-time readers asking: “How much is real? Is Wikipedia really like this?” 2/3
Woman reading – A woman with blue-framed glasses, a floral dress, and pink nail polish holds up a paperback copy of THE EDITORS so that only her eyes peek over the top of the book. She is seated indoors at a table.
141
Stephen Harrison @stephenharrison.com · 13/08/2025
One year ago today, my debut suspense novel THE EDITORS hit the shelves. Launch week was a whirlwind—interviews, events, celebrating with many of you. 🧵 1/3
TV interview – A woman interviewer in a black dress and gold necklace gestures while speaking to Stephen Harrison, who is wearing a navy blazer, light blue shirt, and khaki pants. Behind them is a large screen showing the cover of THE EDITORS and the WFAA logo. A chyron reads: “HIGH-TECH THRILLER ‘THE EDITORS.’”
121
Stephen Harrison @stephenharrison.com · 10/08/2025
“The good readers of a society are both its canaries—which detect the presence of danger to its members—and its guardians of our common humanity.”
The image shows the cover of the book Reader, Come Home: The Reading Brain in a Digital World by Maryanne Wolf
053
Stephen Harrison @stephenharrison.com · 04/06/2025
Lawrence Wright on fiction/nonfiction
010
Stephen Harrison @stephenharrison.com · 02/06/2025
Ezra Klein: I used to conceptualize knowledge the way you see it in 'The Matrix.' I thought reading was downloading information into your brain. Now I think that what you're doing is spending time grappling with the text. Making connections through the process of grappling.
100
Stephen Harrison @stephenharrison.com · 26/05/2025
Is this true, Gen Z? (The Revenge of Analog, David Sax)
011
Stephen Harrison @stephenharrison.com · 08/05/2025
Wikipedia page for the new pope just now
050
Stephen Harrison @stephenharrison.com · 29/04/2025
😂
1132
Stephen Harrison @stephenharrison.com · 17/04/2025
Q: Did Dillon Brooks get a Wikipedia tattoo? A: Sure seems like it! It’s the same W logo with an added drop shadow. But together with the P on his other shoulder it stands for “Wolf Pack.” Loved this coverage from Wikify: open.substack.com/pub/wikify/p...
Photo of Dillon Brooks’s Wikipedia tattoo
031
Stephen Harrison @stephenharrison.com · 14/04/2025
Excited to be part of the inaugural McNally Jackson Book Festival…and in the same group as the creator of my favorite social media account @depthsofwikipedia.bsky.social.
A brochure for the McNally Jackson book festival An article in Vulture about the McNally Jackson book festival
141
Stephen Harrison @stephenharrison.com · 09/04/2025
A Swedish library journal just called THE EDITORS a “Wikipedia-thriller," and published a review of how the novel dramatizes the platform’s edit wars, geopolitical pressures, and community of (anti)heroes. Tack så mycket, Digiteket! digiteket.se/inspirations...
Review of “The Editors” in DigiteketReview of “The Editors” in DigiteketReview of “The Editors” in DigiteketReview of “The Editors” in Digiteket
163