Friday, January 17, 2014

1 2 3 4 Everybody Walk the Dinosaur

First things first.

I'm guilty of doing what I'm about to write about. I've done it before and I'm going to do it again. When I do it, please remind me of this blog post and call me out on it. Seriously. Post this link in the comments or facebook me. I want you to do it. I need you to do it to make me better. It won't hurt my feelings. It'll hurt my feelings if you don't do it.

With that being said, I've noticed a proliferation of articles, blog posts and other writings that are essentially lists with a few explanatory sentences. "Five Things Every Agnostic Extrovert Needs To Know When Talking To Their Buddhist Introvert Spouse" is not a thing.... yet, but we're practically there. Take a minute and scroll through your Facebook feed right now. I can bet that you won't make it far before you see a listicle.

Here's the thing. It's lazy writing. The writer is essentially saying that he or she has five ideas but no clue how to tie them together in a compelling way. It's the written form of a PowerPoint presentation. It's quick and easy, but lacks any effort in the composing of the ideas.

It's a dumb thing to complain about. I know this. I realize these types of articles are quick and easy for people to read and digest. But they're also easily forgettable. I click on a few and read them and then five minutes later couldn't tell you a single part of the list. Maybe that's on me.

1 comment:

Unknown said...

Listicle. Great word.