I recently read “The Dawn of the Post-Literate Society” by James Mariott, an in-depth article all about the decline in reading rates and the impact it’s having on society. It’s very interesting (and a little bit scary), but well worth a read.

The article claims that around one-third of adults in the UK have given up reading books, which makes me terribly sad, but also doesn’t surprise me.

Most of us carry a smartphone with us at all times, and half the apps on a smartphone are designed to be addictive - games, social media, streaming sites, even news feeds.

This means it’s very easy for us to scroll aimlessly, consume endless streams of short-form content, and get distracted when we could pick up a good book instead.

It doesn’t help that so many “marketers” are perpetuating the myth that our attention spans are getting shorter. This encourages people to create more short-form crap and less in-depth stuff. Plus, because we’re being told our attention spans are decreasing, we start to believe it, and it almost becomes a self-fulfilling prophecy.

But our attention spans are not getting shorter. There is no scientific evidence to suggest this is the case. And most of us will happily give our attention to something for more than a couple of seconds, minutes, and even hours if that thing is of interest to us.

The problem isn’t shorter attention spans. The problem is it’s easier to get distracted and harder to focus on things because we are constantly being bombarded with content and overloaded with information. So we just need to be more selective about what we give our attention to.

Rather than letting ourselves mindlessly consume loads of junk content, we need to be better at choosing what we engage with.

Sign up for interesting, entertaining or insightful emails, subscribe to quality publications, and bookmark useful blogs. And when you’re tempted to slip into the never-ending scroll on socials, switch to one of your curated feeds instead.

The short answer is yes. Or at least some people do. Personally, I read a lot of articles and in-depth content. But there will always be certain things that will make us more or less likely to read.

Topic and relevance: The subject of an article is always going to be important. If it’s not something we are interested in or that is relevant to us, then we won’t read it.

Readability and quality: Most people can tolerate the odd typo and even a few badly written sections, but if the whole article is full of mistakes and inaccuracies or is absolute nonsense, we’re going to switch off pretty quickly.

Authority and depth: When we want to learn about something, we want it to be factually accurate, well-researched and in-depth. If I’m trying to get a comprehensive and detailed understanding of something, I want more than a two-paragraph summary that’s been spewed out by AI.

Human connection: Sometimes we want information. Sometimes we want entertainment. And sometimes we want to hear new perspectives, personal stories, and engaging insights. Long-form content is a great way of sharing stories and experiences, or sparking debate and curiosity.

You might have noticed, I’m not shy about sharing long-form content. I rarely write blog posts under 1000 words, and one of my most visited articles is over 6000.

Writing long-form content takes a little time and effort, but I think it’s absolutely worth it.

Build trust and establish expertise: Taking the time to write about subjects in-depth helps you showcase your expertise and demonstrate your knowledge. And if you’re sharing lots of useful information or valuable insights, you’re going to build trust with your readers so they are more likely to buy from you (or recommend you) when they are in the market for what you do.

Good for SEO: There’s no exact word count that will guarantee you get the top spot in online searches, but blog posts over 1000 words typically perform better. Some research suggests 1000-2000-word posts get shared more, whereas 3000+ word posts get more backlinks. Long-form posts naturally contain more keywords and provide more value or information than shorter posts - good for search engines and readers.

Great for sharing and repurposing: A lot of people focus on creating lots of pieces of short-form content for social media. I think it’s better to spend your time creating high-quality long-form content and then breaking it down into shorter pieces for socials. You can share links to the original post in all its long-form glory, as well as sharing short excerpts, carousels, and summarised versions of it.

Improves communication and helps you refine and articulate your thoughts: As well as all the marketing benefits, writing regularly has plenty of cognitive benefits. It helps you articulate and refine your thoughts and improve your ability to convey messages or information clearly and concisely. You’ll also be able to develop your vocabulary, critical thinking and research skills. Writing long-form content is exercise for the brain.

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