The Lost Art of the Written Word

In the post-pandemic world, a lot of people are seeking remote work opportunities. I can’t blame them. Working from home has its benefits. While I haven’t researched job trends to see if that dynamic has led to an influx of freelancers on the market, I can say that it seems that way—and the quality of written articles substantiates it.

Don’t get me wrong. I am not faulting freelancers or beginners. I would like to do some freelance work as a side hustle—and while I write professionally for my day job, I might be considered a beginner in some circles. What I am saying is that there is a fair amount of poorly written content being published. There are two types of articles that are prone to quality problems that frequently turn up on my social media stream—native advertising and the listicle.

Native advertising refers to ads that are crafted to blend into surrounding articles and social media posts. Because this type of advertising tricks readers into engaging with it but typically does not provide substantive information, there are ethical questions about the use of it. Ethical issues aside, these articles are often conversational, witty, and heartwarming—but because the stories are manufactured, they often fail on relatability.

For example, an article recently posted by a laundry detergent company appeared as though the author drew a scenario (mildewed clothes) and a heartwarming element (rescue dogs) out of a hat. The article read like a conversational blog post about from a person recounting a situation in which their clothes mildewed (the scenario), and they consulted a friend who worked at the animal shelter (enter the rescue dogs) about a detergent that does a good job on smelly laundry. The problem came in how the clothes mildewed in the first place. The storyteller checked the dryer, found the that clothes were still wet, left them to deal with later, and then forgot about them for the weekend. Let me repeat that. This person was at the dryer, found that the clothes were wet, and made a conscious decision to leave them while they were standing there at the dryer checking them.

I know that the last statement is excessively repetitive, but it is necessary. I made a comment about this storytelling flaw on the Facebook post where I found the article and received numerous replies from people that failed to fully comprehend what they were reading. They all provided me with scenarios about how laundry gets forgotten, and one even told me that I must not have a busy life (as if there is an award for busyness). The replies dictate the necessity of repeating that this was NOT a relatable case of simple forgetfulness. I was also left pondering two questions:

1. Does poor reading beget poor writing or vice versa?
2. Are these articles written by AI?

The bigger bane on my social media stream, though, is the dreaded “listicle.” You know the articles: 50 Ways to Eat a Banana or 20 Mind-Bending Photos. It has become a popular style of article, but often, an article of this type reads like someone turned in a brainstorming sheet, and it got published.

The lists are void of substantive content with each item including a caption that is full of typos and grammatical errors. They are also unorganized and repetitive. If you’re going to write about 100 new products at Walmart, organize the list by department. It makes for smoother reading and ensures that the writer does not list the new snow chains twice. Finally, the authors sometimes fail to understand what they are writing about. I read a rare listicle that had more than just captions for content, but the author wrote about shampoo and conditioner like they were the same thing.

There is a sub-genre of listicles that gets my goat for an additional reason. These are the “X number of some kind of things” that you are using wrong. I have yet to find anything that I was using wrong, and the condescending tone is uncomfortable. However, everyone wants to know if there is a different way to use their everyday objects, so these articles get a lot of engagement.

While social engagement is an important piece of feedback, it should not be the purpose of an article. The written word is supposed to be informative. I cringe at the thought that authors and editors would compromise standards simply to increase the number of comments.