Have you seen standards of quality erode in your field? I have. I just can’t decide how I feel about it.
Does it matter that typos are becoming commonplace in public writing, even from blue-chip publishers? Does it matter that journalists are going solo with their own monetized newsletters, pumping out articles (and reaping the financial benefits) without editorial oversight? Does it matter that the caption on a photo may be flat-out wrong in what it’s identifying or a headline may not reflect the actual story content? Does it matter that anyone can upload and publish a book, without a traditional agent and publisher?
As someone with years of writing and editing experience behind me, I find myself clinging to professional proprieties, standards, and practices that have held for ages—the “correct” way of doing things. But when I take a step back, I can see that quality judgments are just norms, collectively agreed-upon standards. And the norms are changing.
No matter your field, chances are you’ve seen similar changes and have viewed this as an erosion of quality. Practices, standards, and skills are defined by professional cultures, and these cultures change. I think we’re seeing a lot of that now, especially with the incredible rate of change enabled by technology. Which will only escalate.
The impulse may be to look down on these changes: “Isn’t it terrible how standards have fallen?” But let’s be real. The standards I’m thinking about are not safety issues. (Hopefully, in fields where human safety is at stake, quality standards have actually risen.) A typo, though, threatens no one’s life or even well-being. So I’m trying to flip the equation and look at how the erosion of standards can present benefits.
The tradeoff: Access
In the world of writing and content, the benefit is all about widened access. So many more people can publish their thoughts in the public domain than ever before—from a tweet, to a blog post, to an opinion article, to a print-on-demand book. That’s a very good thing.
The advent of video has opened new avenues for content creation, too. Don’t like to write? Launch a YouTube or TikTok channel. You have a free and easy-to-use medium for communicating to a broad audience. It’s even looser than writing.
Technology has brought down the cost of entry for just about every discipline. Small businesses can now use content to build their brands inexpensively through social media posts, graphics built via Canva, and thought leadership pieces on Medium. It wasn’t that long ago that they would have had to pay consultants for this work. Sure, those consultants would have produced higher quality work. But that was a steep price to pay.
Finally, loosening the grip on perfectionism takes the pressure off all of us. Including me. No longer does letting a typo out into the world feel like a career-wrecking mistake. I can focus on the big picture without over-stressing about an errant spelling.
How to cope
As a consumer of the world (i.e. the internet), the challenge is to manage your grip. Don’t hold too tight to the standards set “back in the day.” Open yourself to the creativity that’s emerging without those standards. At the same time, be judicious in what you consume. No one will edit the internet for you. That’s now up to you. And it’s a round-the-clock job.
Finally, when you come across an absolutely perfect piece of content—whether a poem or long-form journalism, a movie or an advertisement, a TikTok or a tweet —take a moment to revel in that. Hold it up and inspect it like a gorgeous gem, then share it. Perfection is still out there, it just has a different face.
Photo by Suzy Hazelwood from Pexels