Why do we write things down?

The written word has existed for many centuries and will continue to exist for many more. Writing things down is not a novel idea by any means of the imagination and is used by billions across the globe for a lot of reasons. The reasons can be as simple or as complex as the people who write them down, and this reflects on the culture we live in today.

Historically, people have written ideas down since the development of the written language. People wrote things down because they wanted to document and to communicate information to other people and to spread news, ideas, and later on for entertainment purposes.

Today, people write things down for simpler reasons, such as remembering what's on the grocery list. People fear loosing knowledge, so writing information down, like when taking notes, for example, helps the information go from short-term memory to long-term memory that much easier. People also write things down to help them analyze complex thoughts and concepts, like when writing an research essay.

I feel that people want to be remembered and putting their thoughts and feelings on paper will help immortalize themselves. We also tend to be egocentric, so we write about ourselves and our experiences. People write in journals to document their lives. Even novels have some aspect of the author's personality embedded in it. Blogs, like this one, helps us to helps to impart our thoughts and opinions to the world and where others could respond to these ideas.

Social media, on the other hand, has changed the way and reasons we write things down. Social media, like facebook, twitter, and texting, has seeped into our everyday life. It is impossible to exist without running into some of these mediums. Twitter, for example, allows people to follow other people and read what they are doing at that moment. This means that writing has now become something almost trivial in the way it is being used, although for artists, this is a great way to communicate with other people where they are performing, for example, and this form of the written word will help them get more revenue. But at its core, this is for people to generate attention for themselves. Texting allows us to keep in touch with people constantly and immediately, we write messages to people to stay in contact with them at all times.

Although the reasons we write things down differ, it is important to realize that the written word has changed the way we live and interact with each other as a result.