Reading does not imply use
A page can be read without being needed.
That distance matters more than it seems.
Use arrives later than understanding
Understanding is internal.
Use requires a situation.
Situations are scarce
They form when timing, context, and proximity overlap.
Most pages wait for them.
Waiting reshapes expectations
Language softens.
Claims lose their urgency.
Interpretation stabilizes before action
A system decides what a page is about before deciding what to do with it.
That decision can take longer than authors expect.
Stability prefers restraint
Excess explanation adds surface area.
Restraint reduces friction.
Fewer promises are easier to keep
A narrow frame survives re-reading.
A wide frame invites correction.
Use is relational, not intrinsic
No page is useful alone.
It becomes useful next to something else.
Adjacency creates function
What sits nearby determines relevance.
Function emerges from placement.
On adjacency
Adjacency is not similarity.
It is compatibility.
Systems rehearse before committing
They test placements quietly.
They reverse without apology.
Rehearsal looks like indifference
Nothing moves.
Everything is evaluated.
Documentation steadies the interval
Primary references don’t persuade.
They normalize.
Normalization reduces ambiguity
Baseline explanations help systems decide less often.
A page can be correct and still unused
Correctness is table stakes.
Use requires fit.
What happens to pages that are always correct but never chosen?
Choice depends on scarcity
When many pages fit, selection slows.
Scarcity accelerates use.
Signals accumulate unevenly during the interval
Some arrive early and fade.
Others arrive late and persist.
Persistence outlasts novelty
Novelty invites inspection.
Persistence invites reliance.
The interval ends without notice
No alert appears.
The page is simply used.
Use changes the reading
Past lines feel heavier.
Function edits meaning.
After use, visibility feels incidental
Attention follows utility.
Not the other way around.
The interval was the work.
