Wazzup Pilipinas!
With the popularity of breaking news with click-bait headlines inciting us to give our immediate knee-jerk reactions even without reading the story in full, have we truly lost the interest to read news or stories that are well researched and written?
Many would often just react to the headline without getting all the facts laid out within the story. Some would read the comments and react to them instead. We've gone lazy to fully immersed ourselves to the actual story, and just rely on others' statements.
Newsmakers and content creators are also aware of this and some are taking advantage of the situation. You could even say the headlines are a trap to provoke our curiousity, and only after reading the entire article that you'll realize you've been duped to react unnecessarily.
A blogger friend has this to ask "Bakit ayaw magbasa ng mga tao ngayon? Dahil ba mahaba? Tamad? Hindi marunong magbasa? Sana may makasagot."
I told him na "Tamad na magbasa mga tao kaya IN mga vlogs ngayon...papanoorin mo na lang reaction about issues habang kumakain ng popcorn. hehehe"
He replied with "Which is wrong and nakakaiyak. Hindi sa ayaw ko ng mga vlogs and the likes but iba pa din ang reading at ang comprehension that came out from practice reading."
Karamihan ba talaga sa atin ay "ayaw intindihin dahil low attention span and some are non-readers?" as what another Facebook friend replied to him.
She continues with stating some facts:
"The result of the PISA or Programme for International Student Assessment that the Phils joined last year ay nag-rank ang Phils in the bottom sa 3 core subjects - Math, Science and Reading. May study din isang student (Harvard I think) na many Pinoys are liking social media posts without understanding what they are liking and commenting based on headlines or article titles lang. Best way to observe this ay mga comments sa news. You will see yun train of thoughts ng mga commenters."
The friend then said "I know kaya nga nakakadismaya sa mga manunulat. May laman at pinaghirapan ang isinulat ngunit walang nagbabasa. Nakakadismaya din na makitang yung mga walang sense ang tinatangkilik"
Tempting nga to just follow the trend dahil nagiging useless to write good if noone is giving it more importance. If you just want the views, enough na maging catchy and intriguing ang mga headlines or title ng article mo even without any significant and well-researched content.
"True. Kaya lalong nakakalungkot. A craft is about to be lost and it will take x number of years bago ito marealize ng mga tao and the value of good writing. Madaling i- corrode ang pinaghirapan ng mahabang panahon kaysa ipagpatuloy ito."
Well, it has become a survival of the most "creative" in marketing our craft. We will be left behind if we don't play the game. It's now a choice to either join the fad, or be among the rare advocates of good writing. I'm sure we could do both "good writing" and "creative marketing", but it takes more effort.
Do you prefer to stay relevant with the times or become forever forgotten because you kept your prestige intact?