The Death, and Rebirth of Writing

We all know that to do something well, you must practice it regularly. As someone who was born before the 2000’s, I may have been the last generation of students in America who was taught the importance and value of strong writing. The unfortunate reality today, is that young adults lack the ability to employ words in a coherent manner, with the skill to produce and sustain a philosophical discussion based on arguments, with the artistry to create and populate fictional worlds and characters.

The deterioration of writing skills has come as a result of society being preoccupied with superficial matters. We have an entire generation of people who not only want everything (without even knowing why), but who have lost all sense of perspective about the world. Lost perspective on how to create. People are too bored and/or intimidated to make an effort to write in any capacity. Platforms like Instagram and Tik-Tok are popular because they require no effort of any sort. People upload a photo, then instead of writing an interesting story behind it, they bombard their audience with hashtags and captions.

Students continue to arrive on college campuses needing major improvements in basic writing skills. After all, the Snapchat generation may produce more writing than any group of teenagers before it, writing short-disposable text messages and social media posts, but when it comes to writing at school and work, they struggle with the mechanics of simple sentences. Three-quarters of both 8th and 12th graders lack proficiency in writing, according to the most recent National Assessment of Educational Progress. And 40 percent of those who took the ACT writing exam in the high school class of 2020 lacked the reading and writing skills necessary to successfully complete a college-level English writing class, according to the company’s data. Even more broadly, I think this decline reflects an erosion of clear thinking and logical reasoning.

The deterioration of writing skills is probably an inevitable consequence of the way we’ve structured our lives. Of course, this also entails the possibility of a reversal, as long as we are willing to undergo such a process. If you want better texts, better writers, more words and less “noise”, then we need to stop supporting the platforms that discourage creativity and words in favor of noise. Demand more from others but – first – demand more from yourself. And write!

Blake Bartkiewicz

Co-Founder, Musist