I hate reading pointless updates from people who stare at a screen waiting to receive affirmation. I hate Facebook for another distasteful reason, ‘listicles.’

                ‘Listicles’ started as a form of quick news reading for mobile devices later deemed as “News Snacking.” Buzzfeed and Huffington Post quickly jumped on this bandwagon. It stirs a lot of traffic, but that’s just it, annoying traffic. Communication professors tell me that audience’s attention spans are lessening and as media, we should cater to such cave like behavior. To me, I don’t know if it’s like the chicken or the egg, but I think these so called editors and journalists need to stop.

                Lists are nothing new to journalism. Magazines typically carry sex-related listicle headlines on their front pages and should be entitled, “10 Best Ways to Sexually Belittle Yourself.” However, the new success of the list has no backbone. There is little to no credible sources, pictures are hardly attributed, and the messages are merely one blanketed statement after another. Like horoscopes, vagueness is key and it’s harder to write a horoscope than a listicle. At least Greek mythology comes into account. Needless to say, both are tasteless.

                The Listicle is the laziest way to tell a story. Real, factual articles take research and usually need a 1500-word count. If the media feeds into the consumer’s increasingly lower attention spans, they continue the cycle. I know not at listicles are formed for new, but rather entertainment. If this is the newest form of entertainment, then I’m moving to Antarctica. The have one of the poorest receptions.

                As for consumers, stop falling into the deep pits of idiotic conformity.  Read your news from highly qualified news organizations. The New York Times is still a thing. Read a book. I don’t care if it’s only John Green. His opinions are articulate and formulated from actual observations.