The Spectator recently ran a sharp piece titled “The Post-Literate Society.” Its thesis? We’re turning away from books. Attention spans are shrinking. Thought itself is drifting back toward the oral, not the written. Katherine Dee, the author, even writes of “the collapse of writing.”
That collapse may already be here.
You can moan about it. Or mock it. Or howl at the moon.
But in law, words still rule. Ours is a literary craft, and the written word isn’t retreating from the courtroom or the contract anytime soon. That means you have an opening—an invitation—to stand apart.
How? Read. Every day. Offscreen. (Most people already surrender six to nine hours a day to glowing rectangles.) Read slowly. Study the craft. Absorb technique. You’ll sharpen your own.
As for a New Year’s resolution—why not start there? Make one that lasts.