by Ilaria Baratta 18/10/2026
Categories: Opinions / Disclaimer
In a society dominated by short videos, immediacy, and the quest for attention, writing well seems like an anachronistic endeavor. Yet writing requires time, care, and precision: it is a tool for organizing one’s thoughts and giving words a life that transcends the fleeting nature of social media. A reflection by Ilaria Baratta.
In the times we’re living in—times when the “camera on” mode seems to have become the priority— I want to defend writing. Beautiful writing. An anachronistic desire? Perhaps, when I consider that the hottest trend these days—at least on social media—is to point a smartphone camera at yourself, put your face in the foreground, and start talking about any topic, drowning users in a flood of words from one’s bedroom and passing oneself off as an expert—even though, very often, one doesn’t go much beyond the bits and pieces learned the day before in school or university classrooms. This phenomenon—that of so-called influencers or content creators—spread particularly during the COVID-19 pandemic, when, due to circumstances beyond anyone’s control, the entire world found itself confined to their homes overnight, and it has since grown exponentially, shaping this second millennium.
Amid this proliferation of quick and easy content—destined to be ephemeral due to the medium and the very nature of its distribution (Instagram Stories last twenty-four hours after publication, unless added to Highlighted Stories, and in any case, like Reels, are tied to the dynamics of a social media channel)— perhaps it would be wise to return to the art of writing.
Writing requires time, concentration, and reflection; writing means choosing the most appropriate words to express a specific thought or concept, because words are not interchangeable—they can differ even by the slightest nuances of meaning. It means sensing the musicality that arises from the combination of words, paying attention to the rhythm of sentences, their length, the pauses, the repetitions—everything that contributes to making a text not only understandable but also a pleasure to read. Writing means questioning the weight of every single term, its ability to evoke an image or stir an emotion; it means understanding when a sentence needs to be expanded and when, on the contrary, it is better to cut back, lighten, or eliminate anything that risks weighing it down. It is a continuous exercise in exploration and selection, consisting of second thoughts, corrections, and rewrites: the right words do not always come immediately. In fact, it is often necessary to go back over what has been written, reread it, question it, change a word, move a sentence, or start over from scratch.
Writing is a tool for processing thought: it forces us to organize our ideas, establish connections, identify contradictions, and verify the soundness of an intuition. This is also why I wish to champion writing in a society increasingly dominated by speed and immediacy, where one must condense a thought into a few words to capture attention in a matter of seconds. Writing means recognizing the value of care and precision; it means asserting the right to devote as much space to a topic as it deserves, without necessarily having to follow the rhythms imposed by platforms or conform to a style of communication that prioritizes speed over reflection. It is a form of respect even before it is a form of communication, because it requires attention to what one wishes to express, to the language one uses, and to the people one is addressing. This is because a written text has the potential to have a much longer lifespan than a reel: it does not end the moment it is published, nor does it necessarily depend on how quickly it manages to capture attention. It continues to exist even years later; it can be quoted and referenced in another context. It is a stable presence and can retain its value long after it is published.
But how did we come to lose our taste for writing? I believe it is largely due to the direction modern society has taken—one devoted to speed, immediacy, and ease—a media environment teeming with self-proclaimed communicators who seek to grab attention with a catchy phrase and with facial expressions, winks, and gestures rehearsed in front of the mirror. A society in which the attention span is very short and, as statistics show, tends to be getting even shorter (and in fact, social media content ranges from one to three minutes); a society in which people are daunted by the length of a text and even struggle to look up the meaning of an unfamiliar word in a dictionary.
To write, one must also read a great deal. It’s a vicious cycle: reading is, in fact, an indispensable training ground for writing, but it in turn requires time, concentration, and curiosity. Time to linger over a text and understand it, and the curiosity to explore different ideas and points of view. It is an exercise that nourishes thought, enriches vocabulary, and improves one’s ability to express oneself.
I want to defend writing not out of snobbery, but because I hope for a society that rediscovers the habit of understanding a text, of reflecting, of delving deeper, of caring for words, of taking the necessary time, and of paying attention to thought and expression. To defend the ability to go beyond the surface and ensure that speed does not become the sole measure of how we communicate, learn, and exist in the world.
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