Writing is too efficient for tech platforms

Actual title: Writing is too efficient

I invested in a bit of time biting on " ... for tech platforms" -- surely not ... until finally looking upwards at the topic header. The opening paragraph soon makes it clear - media platforms.

It's long been said a picture is worth a thousand words -- but this reality has skirted over one thing ... not just any old picture.

Quality matters. Good expression of an idea, whether written or visual should aim to frame intent, content, along with context if required, in a manner that is not easily[1] misunderstood.

Yes effective communication is an art. Once people were schooled so that eventually, they could easily write well enough to summarise an event or topic they understood with some depth, that would enable equally educated people to understand what was written, conveying what they needed to be able to grasp the matter as intended. It's harder though when writing for people of differing educational backgrounds or may or may not be familiar with the topic. Will including additional explanations which are required to convey the same for the novice or clueless newbie enthusiast, bore those familiar with the topic?

For some who might write well enough in a field they know well, they may struggle hard to write effectively about an abstract idea or subject matter. More times than not it's easier to just say out loud whatever thoughts what comes to mind, typically thoughts with a very loose structure. So the advent of places like youtube in the 00s allowed them to do just that. Places like youtube saved them a lot of time if they wanted to make a quick reply, otherwise it would require them to write those thoughts down, think about some points more closely and perhaps double check some facts.

This is where I'd agree that writing something down is a better than those who jump in front of the camera and waffle on for five or ten minutes, often going over the same point two or three times needlessly. But youtube and since then similar platforms enable not only those who want a quick or more expressive form to say something - it enabled the vapid clueless but well spoken BS artist to jump in front of the camera and say, well whatever comes to mind without the limitation of being in a real conversation and being pressed on just what they meant when they said ...

Bad writing happens as well though, apart from mere poor efforts, a compilation by those using big words they clearly don't understand, painting with ill fitting terms to the point it's literary nonsense. As with many folks, I've also wrangled with various written books or instructions that perhaps weren't vetted the best or used an ambiguous word / term or two.

Another mistake with writing: More words spent telling the story is ok if it's a complicated story. The preference away from the printed word was not helped when a couple of decades ago magazines started to fluff up articles in their ever thinning pages of content. Some made fluff an art form, uncompressing two good paragraphs into three pages including meaningless artwork. They I think, had followed in the steps of what I first noticed in the 90s, the emerging abundance of dumbed down science or similar books in particular with fluffed content to replace niche information leaving something that looked the right size, visually appealing, but somewhat short on real details. I guess they were really only meant to sit on shelves or coffee tables.

Visual / video aids though do have a place, monkey see, monkey do is almost instinctive with some people and for those tricky things, a great bonus to have the spoken word (audio or subtext) by a very thoughtful, very experienced commentator. Say for a DIY repair - a video, not only seeing what's done but includes an apt well spoken explanation expertly guiding the novice though what's required and various things to be mindful for. Poor or confusing video commentary is often as would be expected, detrimental.

[1] There will be those who have made an art form out of only reading or seeing what they want to.

Edit, commas and typo