The Key Feature of Effective Writing in the Digital Age—Revealed by a Plea Against AI Misuse

05 May 2025 #writing

Yesterday, while reading I’d rather read the prompt by Clayton Ramsey, with reasons why people use AI to write for them, I found this idea:

When someone comments under a Reddit post with a computer-generated summary of the original text, I honestly believe that everyone in the world would be better off had they not done so. Either the article is so vapid that a summary provides all of its value, in which case, it does not merit the engagement of a comment, or it demands a real reading by a real human for comprehension, in which case the summary is pointless.

That made me think of a key feature for good writing on the Internet:

Write something that doesn’t need a summary.

I declared myself guilty. My first posts were word vomits, with long paragraphs, fancy words, and poor formatting. I wrote to sound like a “writer”.

I blame school writing assignments: “Write a 5-page essay about…” And when we didn’t have anything to say, we started to go on tangents and add fluff to fill five pages.

On the internet, there’s no word count to hit.

Good writing is clear and to the point.