The World of Dumb, Dumb and Dumber
Is the media trying to make people dumber or is it offering dumbed down programs because that's how their audience is these days? That's an old debate and, at this point, we can all agree people are being deliberately dumbed down.
This is not about the media in general, but about the Internet and the tons of content being generated every day. One of the reasons I've been absent from this platform lately is that I'm too busy with my freelancing gig and by the end of the day there are no words left in my brain.
Sorry to have to admit to that but I'm one of those filling the Internet with crap one word at a time. It's not that I want to write crap, but most of my clients insist on that. Anyone launching an e-store or a website wants to duplicate the content on already existing, already successful sites. They don't come to me asking if I could write something original, but to copy-paste other sites and make it sound original. I've had clients who were adamant I should not use other site for information or inspiration except the one specifically indicated. It's in my nature to do research on unfamiliar topics, add information etc, but apparently that's a bad thing.
And this is just part of the problem. After all, what's it to me if your site is lame? I need the work and if you want crap, I can deliver that.
The hardest part of this job is the requirement to use simple words and short paragraphs. I get the point, I've learned enough about SEO, but, long term, I find this frightening. The Internet is being quietly filled with texts written for complete morons, people unable to read and understand a complex sentence. Or fancy words. Even a word like therefore is considered too fancy, I've been told. Stick with but or yet...
The Internet is being written for people barely able to read the instructions on a frozen pizza box. I cannot help but wonder if tomorrow's generation will be able to read more than that. We've reverted to communicating through images and emojis. A few words in a comment. 150 characters in a tweet.
If you have a problem, go on google and the algorithm will come up with a short and very clear answer using words small enough for your mind to process.
One of my few smart clients was telling me the other day we should try another format he'd heard about and formulate a clear answer to a query in the first paragraph. A simple yes or no. I pointed out that my work would be useless then - why write 1000 words if the reader gets the answer in the first two lines? Why would he bother to read the rest, the serious part explaining the reasons behind the yes or no answer?
I'm afraid this is the whole point, people are encouraged to ask simple questions and get simple answers, so they don't ask serious questions, like Why?
And you cannot blame the people for that. They can tweak the algorithms to favor exactly this type of content - short paragraphs, simple words!
In tomorrow's world there will be no need to burn books. People won't be able to read them because their brains have been trained to process only short simple sentences.
Very quotable quote there - a manifesto in emojis, a new generation who can't read anything but sound bites.
P.O.S. - thank you for this!
I'll admit if I want an answer to a question I don't want to have to read through unnecessary extra bulk to get there. Having said that, few questions I ask have a yes or no answer, so I don't want that either, I want to know the reasoing behind it.
Yes, I get that. Sometimes a yes or no is good enough. The articles I was referring to required a lot of research on my part and I try to be as helpful as possible and it's so frustrating..
Thanks for dropping by!