I don’t like it when people say short form is the only way to secure your online presence. You need to write in a way that every line sounds like a punch line. People are scrolling; they don’t have time — hurry up, hurry up! Don’t use more than five words in a sentence. Make your paragraphs shorter. You must use images, symbols, and emojis. Modern readers have different needs now. Come on, chop-chop!
I think the ‘modern reading community’ can handle sentences longer than five words. Maybe the reason modern readers continuously scroll and skim is not that they lack time or patience to read, but because they can’t find anything authentic to connect with emotionally. It feels like a terrible downgrade to treat readers like infants who can’t sit still for two minutes. People have been reading Odysseus, Crime and Punishment, War and Peace, To Kill a Mockingbird, or One Hundred Years of Solitude for centuries. Yes, I agree that technology is evolving, and we need to adapt to new ways of presenting information. But I don’t think this has anything to do with ‘readers’ needs.’ Most of the time, it feels like we create that need to push them into this fast and consuming environment.
The problem is not long sentences or paragraphs. The lack of authenticity in writing makes it unbearable to read. This has always been the case, be it in the 17th century or now.
Hemingway once wrote:
“ Baby shoes. One pair. Never worn.”
What you just read doesn’t take its power from its short form. It hits you because it’s the most evocative and heartbreaking piece of flash fiction ever written, in six words.
Or have a look at the opening paragraph of Moby Dick by Herman Melville:
“ Call me Ishmael. Some years ago — never mind how long precisely — having little or no money in my purse, and nothing particular to interest me on shore, I thought I would sail about a little and see the watery part of the world. It is a way I have of driving off the spleen and regulating the circulation. Whenever I find myself growing grim about the mouth; whenever it is a damp, drizzly November in my soul; whenever I find myself involuntarily pausing before coffin warehouses and bringing up the rear of every funeral I meet; and especially whenever my hypos get such an upper hand of me that it requires a strong moral principle to prevent me from deliberately stepping into the street and methodically knocking people’s hats off — then, I account it high time to get to sea as soon as I can. This is my substitute for pistol and ball. With a philosophical flourish Cato throws himself upon his sword; I quietly take to the ship. There is nothing surprising in this. If they but knew it, almost all men in their degree, some time or other, cherish very nearly the same feelings towards the ocean as me. “
It was more than three sentences, but you enjoyed reading it, didn’t you? Why? Because you feel an epic adventure is about to unfold, and you want to be part of it. This stranger who wants to be called Ishmael is inviting to a profound intimacy.
I know all this digitalization has a massive effect on our span of attention. Humans now have a second shorter span of attention than a goldfish. There is no denying that social media has transformed our reading habits. I am not putting all the blame on Twitter or other social media platforms here. Twitter is giving everyone a platform to voice themselves, no matter what qualifications they have as a writer, journalist, sociologist, or scientist. People can write. (Let’s stick to the ‘act of writing’ for now, not the effects of all kinds of information circulating on Twitter.)
Maybe we can think of Twitter as how punk music changed rock music. Punk was often seen as simple because it didn’t have long, fancy guitar solos or complicated structures like other rock genres. But that doesn’t mean it was easy or not good. Punk music stripped away some of the unnecessary stuff in rock, making it more raw and real. It made fun of the overly tough and macho attitudes in rock and brought in new musicians who were just starting to learn to play instruments. This is not just for Twitter. I am aware of the form that needs to be used on Twitter. But we can apply this thought to all the other social media platforms.
Even though I tend to be a grumpy person as I get older, I appreciate all these new forms and mediums. What I don’t appreciate is insincere content. Content that I cannot emotionally connect with or evoke a feeling or an image inside my head. Content with no personal insight from its writer. Content with no story in it. I can’t stand those. Not because they are written with more than five sentences or long paragraphs. But simply because they are not authentic and genuine.
So, in the end, the reason for short content isn’t really because people can’t focus for long. It’s more about our fast-paced culture and the constant craving for consumption. It’s important not to mix up these two things. Why do we have all these online platforms that want us to express ourselves as short and as quickly as possible? Does it truly benefit us, or does it contribute to the notion of creating a vast, consuming society?
Trust in people’s intelligence and provide them with the content they deserve — content that goes beyond the confines of brevity and engages them in meaningful ways. Let’s appreciate stories and information that go deeper, making a real connection instead of just rushing through things.