Overall, do we write better or worse than our forebears?

[astrum]

As a whole, would you say that we write better or worse than our predecessors?

Why do you feel that way?


I ask out of mere curiosity. This is not homework or part of a survey done for a job.

[stlukesguild]

Considering that as a whole "we" are far more literate than our ancestors, it is likely that as a whole we are better writers. If your question is rather a comparison between the writing abilities of the most literate and educated from the past and the present, that is more difficult. If we go back a century or more we find that letter writing was an art form we have largely lost. Keeping journals or diaries was also more prevalent. Today we blog, post on Facebook, tweet, or send text messages... often in a most reductive manner: LOL, IMO, etc... Honestly, those with a profound love of reading and writing... a passion for words, word play, the sound and form of language, etc... as well as the discipline needed to develop this passion make up as small a portion of the populace as whole as ever.

[JBI]

The top specialists in Chinese literature are nothing compared to the Mandarins of 100 years ago. That being said, they were all of the same class, whereas now most people in China can read and engage with literature. Still, Classical Chinese as a language of composition died out in two generations and as an art form is pretty much buried.

[cacian]

I know one thing we do not write like we should.

[PeterL]

Writing in past times was much better than most writing being done these days.

[astrum]

Writing in past times was much better than most writing being done these days.


PeterL,

Care to explain?

[PeterL]

PeterL,

Care to explain?

When the literacy rate was 25% or lower, the literate people were typically the most intelligent, and the writers were able to effectively use expressions that were more complicated or abstruse, and the readers wouldn't complain. These days writing is done to capture a large audience; although it is taken for granted that a nominal literacy rate of 95% doesn't mean that 95% of the population is willing to read a book, but the 50%, or so, that read are not as capable of understanding as the less than 25% were. Of to use a current phrase, writing has been dumbed down.