Why writing is a future-ready skill in the 21st century
Sharpening our ability to articulate complex ideas matters more than ever in our digital, distributed world
Writing is a critical skill – today and tomorrow. I can imagine you frowning or shrugging as you read, thinking that it’s yet another outdated claim from an academic. Indeed – in a world where an image is considered to be worth a thousand words, where great thoughts should fit the format of a 280 character tweet, and where few people are willing to read more than two pages on a particular topic – writing seems more an obsolete than an essential skill. However, in a post-Covid world where work is hybrid and increasingly distributed, writing is everywhere, and everyone must write. Documenting and collaborative writing with people you might not know, or don’t see, is becoming an essential work practice.
How writing builds clarity for collaboration
By writing, I don’t mean only handwriting. I broadly refer to the act of communicating thoughts or feelings using a set of symbols on a visual medium – from papyrus and clay tablet to paper and now digital media. Writing, I argue, enables the articulation of detailed and complex thoughts and supports both individual creative thinking and creative collaborations. While writing might be seen as obsolete, it is notable that many big tech companies such as Stripe, Basecamp, Google, or Intel, are known for their writing-heavy cultures. They share the belief that written memos allow us to develop multi-causal narratives that provide a fuller perspective on a topic. Moreover, once written, memos can be shared, and read prior to meetings, allowing participants, whether they agree or not, to engage in an evidence-based discussion.
The neuroscience of writing and competing abilities
Interestingly, these organizational decisions echo important scientific knowledge. The development of writing is associated with two parallel and dramatic changes. Historically, the invention of writing on human civilization were momentous: mathematics, science, philosophy, literature were all predicated upon the ability to write, as were law systems and large organized societies. At the same time, writing changed the human brain and unleashed creativity. For instance, the cognitive psychologist Maryanne Wolf shows that the development of writing and reading created new pathways and circuits in the brain that provided the foundation for analytical thinking and reflexivity, as well as associated creative abilities.
Yet, despite all this evidence, and in the face of the tremendous pressures to deliver innovation quickly and effectively, managers have increasingly commented on the decrease in people’s ability to ‘write’, meaning the ability to develop clear and thorough arguments. In my own teaching, I have been noticing (along with several of my colleagues) that students have difficulties in articulating complex ideas and presenting strong and persuasive arguments. This type of testimony from professionals is corroborated by recent studies by psychologists and neuroscientists. If our brains are getting better at visual-spatial skills, such as browsing, scanning, and multitasking, it is at the cost of a weakening of deep processing that underpins inductive analysis, reflection, and imagination. Similarly, a recent MIT study on the impact of generative AI tools on essay writing suggests that heavy reliance on AI might lead to overall cognitive atrophy and loss of brain plasticity, and a reduction of critical thinking and intellectual independence. Such findings are particularly important as companies crave innovation and as our societies are facing complex and social environmental issues. Indeed, now more than ever, we need creative and critical thinkers to develop innovative and meaningful solutions.
Critiquing, creating, clarifying: writing is here to stay
Nurturing our creative and critical thinking capabilities doesn’t mean moving away from digital technologies and simply going back to pencil and paper. Yet, it is important that we keep practicing our writing skills, and write our ideas in complete sentences and paragraphs to keep our analytical and creative abilities. This is especially important with the rise of generative AI: if we want to use the potential of these technologies to the fullest, use them as a tool rather than a crutch, we need to be able to prompt it wisely and engage with its content critically and creatively. In the end, like any technology, it can enhance our capabilities, but we should still own our thinking. And what owning our thinking entails is a pressing question for us to reflect upon as the number of humans and businesses engaging and using generative AI tools is rapidly increasing on a daily basis.
This is an revised version of an OpEd published in Observador in October 2023.