Why are internet replies one liners at best now? (email, how to, work)

[VulcanRabbi]

It's the whole web now not just one particular place: It seems we have forgotten how to have a detailed discussion and I doubt people even read past the title as they answer without seeing what it's about: It seems I've wasted my time as nobody seems to read examples anymore and you get more replies but less quality if you don't.


Why has conversation dumbed down to a 'tweet' length now almost to the point only pictures or 30 second videos interest people? A 30 sec video of something stupid will generate insane upvotes and something of actual discussion will net crappy replies at best it feels like Idiocracy is here!


Now this wasn't such a problem so much until 2010ish when corporates restructured the internet and Google basically took over forcing websites to comply with it's phone only standards or be shut out which many did get shut out.

What's it going to take before we go full circle doing the dosido around the old brass wagon again? Right now we are circling to the left (literally) around the old brass wagon then to the right then bow to your partner..etc

[thatdurncat13]

They get right to the point?

[High_Plains_Retired]

The 200 word limit in some reply boxes?

[Peregrine]

There are PLENTY of places to have your ling winded conversations.
This is not a lost art.

[turf3]

Originally Posted by Peregrine

There are PLENTY of places to have your ling winded conversations.
This is not a lost art.

Hey, that's two lines!

[MidValleyDad]

There are a lot of people who act as if they are charged by the word (or even the character) I used to fight that problem with my support team all the time. Now I fight it with my kids in texts and emails.


We have progressed well past prehistoric man who got along with grunts and pointing fingers. Language is used to explain and clarify and is the sign of advanced civilization. As my daughter is fond of telling the grandkids 'Use your words' (of course when she texts me it seems to be short cryptic messages

[harry chickpea]

When the internet began, only smart people (geeks) could figure out how to get on and use it. There are still places where intelligence is valued, but you won't find that on facebook or the other big sites aimed at an entirely different demographic.

[TashaPosh]

Originally Posted by Peregrine

There are PLENTY of places to have your ling winded conversations.
This is not a lost art.

Ita...by calling ppl or in person. I have a lot of conversations with my fiancé, my mom..sister...& several friends, especially since having reduced hours for work because of covid.

Originally Posted by MidValleyDad

There are a lot of people who act as if they are charged by the word (or even the character) I used to fight that problem with my support team all the time. Now I fight it with my kids in texts and emails.

You fight your kids about how short their texts are? For real? Texts are for fast & immediate communication.

[Avondalist]

My posts on this site that get the most upvotes are usually what could charitably be called "pithy one-liners." It's discouraging that people like this style of communication.

[Yelling_at_Birds]

The web that you describe hasn't disappeared. Those same exchanges can be had, just not on the large controlled household name sites.

Building on Harry Chickpea's observation, you need to seek out the places where high agency individuals congregate. Often, they are in those spaces simply because they have been, or would be, drowned out by the noise of large and controlled spaces.

So why do modern dialogues tend to be very brief? I think people have simply been conditioned to it. In order to participate on the popular areas of the web, one needs to formulate their thoughts in a way which provides even a small chance of generating insane upvotes and attention.

Some tangential advice I can give is this; Stop treating the internet like television and start treating it more like a library. The things worth seeing and doing are seldom things which can be packaged into 5-20 minute morsels.