I’ve lost patience for lengthy online articles. I’m not sure when I lost it. Maybe I was always like this, and I only plowed through long texts when there was a promise of earning my degree at the end of the tunnel.
Tell me what you think in a few paragraphs, two, three, five tops. If, by that time, I haven’t gotten the gist of the point you are about to make, I’m not reading on. And if I have, I’m not reading on either. I’m out. I’m saturated. I’m that person now, who doesn’t click the link you posted, but first looks at the comment section to gauge whether I’m going to be bothered to click at all.
I’m sure you, the writer of a looooong piece, are very intelligent, well spoken and well meaning. It’s not that I think I know more than you. I don’t. On the contrary. If I lose the thread of your argument, it’s probably because I know way less than you. It’s just that I’ve reached the point where I think most things aren’t that important, especially when people insist they’re really important.
I’ve seen both sides of nearly every argument. Most real problems in life don’t get solved. Most questions are potayto potahto. Most statements of fact were never observed first hand by the person claiming them.
I don’t need to read on. You don’t need to read on. Just close the page.