LIVity

When I was in journalism school almost ten years ago, my classmates and I were told to write on a fifth grade reading level. This is to ensure journalists don't alienate readers and as a result, turn them away from reading a piece.  I wonder what grade level j-schools are telling future journalists to write on now.

I ask this because of current trends of consuming information, mostly visual - photos and videos. I knew while going through j-school that print journalism was on the decline. My fellow classmates and I were even prepared by being taught how to write for different mediums. But I never thought it would get this bad. Limited to writing 140 characters - mostly social media updates or captions for imagery - or writing a script for 30 seconds worth of broadcast material. We've become a culture of overgrown kindergartners bored with anything more complex than our picture books.

Don't get me wrong, I see value in technology and even in these new ways of gathering information.  But I also still believe that they're a kind of appetizer, a method of peaking interest and encouraging you to look further into a subject.

I know I'm in the minority, I mean my hobbies are ballet, knitting, crocheting, sewing, reading and writing. I'm a connoisseur of dying arts. But I have believe that we haven't become so superficial we get bored with information a 10 year old should be able to grasp.

That's all; I don't have a solution. Go read a book lol

Until next time...