#1. Your brain works like everyone else’s: Have you noticed a pattern in your click-through habits? Do lists give you trigger finger? Writer’s know this. Heck, the internet is full of posts encouraging would-be authors to use this tried and true method for their blogs.
#2. Everybody is doing it: News agencies, LinkedIn Influencers, bloggers – everybody and their brother are using lists to lure eyeballs and numb brains. Just search for news on “5 things”.
#3. Lists are for the lazy: Lazy writers create lists for easy content. Lazy readers who want quick and dirty ideas skim lists. As if it weren’t easy enough to generate and read lists, services such as Listly and Listverse have taken both to an entirely new level of lazy.
#4. List pushing is big business: Your penchant for reading lists is making sites like Buzzfeed so very wealthy. Are you getting as much out of these lists are they are?
#5. Lists rot your brain: OK, I made that one up, but most of what goes into lists these days is made up junk. Really, though, if you’re reading a lot of lists, ask yourself when the last time you read a full-length article was? Do you even have the attention span for it anymore?
