Listicles are popular among many online writing platforms - you can see them spread across Social Media pages like it's your job. Most notably on Facebook, you are likely to stumble across at least 5 in the first 20 seconds of scrolling if given the chance. For better, or in my opinion, for worse, they are plastered everywhere for people to read. Here are 6 reasons why listicles are ruining America:

1. They're too short.

In the place of a well thought out, in-depth analysis of a topic, listicles tend to provide a quick quip of basic information that doesn't actually allow itself the time to provide any insight. This medium doesn't allow for a well-developed idea, just a quick little bite-sized piece of information. It is essentially a writing style that runs on laziness.

2. They lack substance.

There isn't any real information in listicles. They usually just provide a clickbait title (example: How Listicles Are Ruining America), then veer off on some frenetic, rather pointless spiel that doesn't actually go anywhere. It's like talking simply because you're uncomfortable with silence rather than actually having something to say. Just because they contain information, doesn't mean that the information is pertinent or useful. Which brings us to our next slide.

3. They keep companies like Buzzfeed in business.

Narrowing down the list of absolutely nonsense Buzzfeed articles that have no real bearing or purpose to provide an example was difficult, but this article, which is simply a collection of random tweets from random accounts on twitter really takes the cake. Keep up the hard-hitting reporting guys.

4. They exist to satisfy our ever-shortening attention spans.

The draw of a listicle is that it's cut up into manageable fragments, and while that is appealing, it doesn't exist to provide information, it exists more to kill time. The human attention span ranges from about 8-12 seconds, and these bite-sized pieces can be easily consumed within that time frame

5. It spits in the face of people who actually write.

It's difficult to write. It's not difficult to compile a listicle. Not to rain on anybody's parade, but putting the two in the same category seems to cheapen the whole thing. This took me 15 minutes to write, that says something.

6. It insults you, the readers, intelligence.

Listicles exist for the sole purpose of mindless scrolling. Yes, puppies are cute. Yes, there are things that "2000's kids will never understand". But what does that add to the global discourse? What does a reader gain from the mindless tapping and scrolling? It all just seems a little pointless when you think about it.