The Unbearable Lightness of Writing

(and, as a result, reading)

Modern technology has enabled a diverse community of people to write and express their opinions to the world. In the past, a person had to be fully invested in writing as an author, scholar or journalist. But today, anyone can be a writer, a blogger, or a thought leader. Glass ceilings have been shattered by social platforms that allow people to build an audience of readers, and platforms, such as Medium, which allow people to focus on writing rather than the logistics of maintaining a blog, or getting published by different media outlets.

This is freedom of speech like we’ve never seen before, and great news for readers, which have the freedom to expose themselves to a variety of ideas, cultures and points of view that may not have been available to them in the past. Young authors can start making a name for themselves, social activists can publish their manifestos, and minorities can have an equal voice. The evolution of writing online is just as significant as the revolution of the sharing economy — creating new, mutually beneficial connections between people around the globe, and new opportunities for talent to be exposed to the world.

But then, I look at my feed on those platforms and ask myself, “Has writing become too easy?” Does the fact that anyone can publish anything with a click of a button affect the quality of writing and the respect that people have for the written word?

Thirty year-olds write letters to their 25 year-old selves, who write letters to their 15 year-old selves, who write letters to their moms. Too many times I’ve read posts summarizing a 3-year career in a Silicon Valley startup, and writing about the hardship of not drinking booze for a year, not eating burgers for a month, and not looking at the phone for three days.

Would they be writing the same pieces if they had to submit them to an editor for review, or if they were writing the first chapter of a book? By lowering the bar, are we opening up to new ideas, or are we merely compromising on quality and encouraging mediocrity?

On the other hand, how is this massive amount of content changing our reading habits? Is it so easy to read whatever pops up in our feed that we stop choosing what to read, and just focus on what’s handed out to us on a silver platter?

Recent research by the Pew Research Center shows that fewer Americans are reading books — 72% compared to 76% the previous year. It’s not due to millennial reading habits. It’s across generations. Could it be that we prefer to spend our reading time consuming content that algorithms serve up to us, rather than with books that require further investment on our part?

I find that many people, especially in the tech industry, spend most of their reading time on work-related news and articles. They disregard the impact fiction reading can have on their lives, and even on their careers.

I wrote this piece after discussing writing habits with a friend. During our conversation, I casually mentioned the “unbearable lightness of writing,” alluding to Milan Kundera’s famous book. When I got back home, I looked for Kundera’s book and read it again, many years after the first time I read it. It didn’t have the same effect it had on me when I was 18. But, it did make me think about Kundera’s revolutionary writing style, about his contradictory philosophical approach compared to Nietzsche’s philosophy of eternal return, and about our ability to learn from our mistakes. When I finished reading it, I collected 9 additional books from our bookshelf, all of which moved me or taught me something about life, and gave them to my daughter.

We can learn from anyone, young or old, educated or street-smart, artist or tech executive. But, from some, we can learn a bit more.

P.S. Yes, I do see the irony in writing a blog post about the unbearable lightness of writing.

P.P.S. In case you were wondering, this is my daughter’s “reading list” for the summer*:

· The Unbearable Lightness of Being by Milan Kundera

· All Quiet on the Western Front by Erich Maria Remarque

· Anna Karenina by Leo Tolstoy

· Atonement by Ian McEwan

· Catch-22 by Joseph Heller

· The Catcher in the Rye by J.D. Salinger

· Mrs. Dalloway by Virginia Woolf

· The Day Lasts More than a Hundred Years by Chingiz Aitmatov

· One Hundred Years of Solitude by Gabriel Garcia Marquez

· Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance: An Inquiry into Values by Robert Pirsig

* This is not my list of top 10 books. It’s a list of 10 “must-reads” that were on my bookshelf (along with several others). They provide different perspectives on different aspects of life, including love, war, friendship, family, writing and more.