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I Quit Facebook—and You Should, Too(erickarjaluoto.com)
almost 6 years ago from Eric Karjaluoto, I design things like Emetti, Pixaver, and Campnab—plus client gigs at smashLAB.
Eric Karjaluoto, almost 6 years ago
It’s kind of you to share your advice, but what you say seems somewhat reductive (no pun intended).
I write short pieces, mid-length ones, and even books. In each case, I determine what I want to say—and consider how much detail it requires. The answer to those to questions informs how long the piece will be.
While brevity can be useful, a shorter piece isn’t necessarily better. It’s often just… well… shorter. I suspect this is why dialogue on Twitter often becomes toxic. Distilling an idea to its shortest form makes it seem clear, but the result often lacks nuance.
So, yes, I could have made this shorter. In fact, I could have reduced it to a paragraph or sentence. That said, doing so would have removed a lot of the detail I felt relevant to what I wanted to communicate.
The bigger concern (in my mind) is that anyone balks at a 5,000 word essay. You make it sound as though 24 minutes is a long read. I suppose that’s a sign of the times. It also suggests we all need to read more books. ;-)
Mattan Ingram, almost 6 years ago
I don't think this is fair. I read a lot of long books and long-form writing, I still didn't want to find what was new in this essay about quitting Facebook.
I think we have just come across so many articles about quitting Facebook that it is difficult to know why I should invest my reading time in this one.
That’s a personal call each of us makes, many times a day. There’s no shortage of content to read, and it’s difficult to know which things are worth the time.
I’m not saying this article is worth your time, or John’s for that matter. It was an article I wrote for myself—that a lot of other people just happened to read.
I could have made it shorter, but I didn’t want to. I made it as long as I thought it needed to be.
I suppose it's because I am not a person who writes for personal satisfaction or self-reflection, or if so it is kept privately.
When you have "You should too" in the title the strong implication is that this is information for others, not just reflections on your own experience.
Yes, I did put that in the title, and it is for anyone to read. That said, the length of the piece gets to be my call. If you, or John, feel that it’s too long, you don’t have to read it. That’s your call. :-)
This might sound snarky or defensive, but I don’t intend it that way. I wrote the piece I wanted to write, at the length I felt appropriate. If some choose not to read it, for that reason, I’m OK with that.
Mikael Staer, almost 6 years ago
This response is everything he is fighting. You just proved his point.
Unsolicited advice: The post is almost 5000 words (est. reading time 24 minutes). Try only including what is absolutely necessary, it will make your point much clearer.