It would be great to bring quality writers with distinctive styles together in one place, where they could offer meaningful content — the written word — to readers who want to develop their imagination, concentration, and critical thinking. Viewers would become readers. Imagination would return. Shorts addiction would decrease, and humanity in general would gain more time…

“If you want me to speak or give a fifteen-minute speech, give me a few hours to prepare. But if I don’t have time to prepare, I can talk for fifteen days.” That is the kind of thing experienced or engaging speakers would often say.

Social media offers plenty of positive content, but, truth be told, it also offers a great deal of absurd content. We used to joke when we came across a book we didn’t like by saying, “Paper will put up with anything…” But what cameras, microphones, and popular platforms can “put up with” today is something else entirely.

When we see who becomes popular or a role model on social media — especially who becomes a role model for younger generations — it can leave a person speechless. Producing quality content requires a great deal of preparation, yet social media algorithms are designed to favor those who post more frequently or livestream all day long. Naturally, in that environment, the attention goes to those who, instead of speaking for fifteen minutes, can talk for fifteen days straight.

Perhaps it would even be funny if it weren’t so addictive, for both younger and older people. Even though smartphones provide “screen time” statistics showing how much time we spend on particular social platforms, the numbers are still alarming. An enormous amount of time is spent scrolling through popular “shorts” videos that seem to have no end.

Not only is the content of many of these videos questionable, to say the least, but this way of consuming content also weakens attention and concentration. Imagination begins to fade because reading can hardly compete with the flood of short-form videos. Quality writers withdraw and disappear, believing that their audience has moved into a flashy, addictive theater.

Social life is fading away, just as was foretold among the signs of the Day of Judgment. Social gatherings happen almost out of obligation and respect for others, while people hurry back to being alone with their “shorts.” And even when people do get together, conversations often revolve around what someone said in one of those short videos. For many people, the reach of the human mind seems to be getting smaller and smaller, while screen time keeps getting bigger and bigger.

It would be great to bring quality writers with distinctive styles together in one place, where they could offer meaningful content — the written word — that helps readers develop imagination, concentration, and critical thinking. Viewers would become readers. Imagination would return. Shorts addiction would decrease, and humanity in general would gain more time because reading does not have the same endless, automatic scrolling mechanism.

Perhaps something like that is on the horizon.

Scroll through the titles of the written word instead of endless videos. Be part of the OnStorio family — as a writer or a reader, it doesn’t matter.