Article Trends I Want to Wave Goodbye to in 2015

2014 was an interesting time for the rise of the online magazine. Many trashy articles were written in number form as the rise of Buzzfeed led many to follow suit.

As Buzzfeed contributor, I’m not going to slag off their format. It’s genius, it works and their articles keep me busy on a long boring commute.

It’s not them I have a problem with, it’s the other trends. One that the likes of Cosmo and Women’s magazine have adopted.

At Sunday Woman, we pride ourselves on being as different as you are. We know that just because you have kids you don’t lose interest in sex. We know that in your head you’re still 21 years old and we know that parenting and business can go hand in hand. We celebrate the differences and we remove the censors, being ourselves in the hope that you will be too, which is why we’d never start an article with:

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  You’re Doing it Wrong

  
  

Everytime I saw an article like this I was tempted to comment. I probably did a few times. These really annoyed me. I know they’re written for click bait but they do nothing but dictate. Are there really any journalists or writers out there that have the power to tell us how to live our lives? No.

I may be over sensitive about this, no doubt it’s a trend with teenagers and a way to appeal to that young demographic with some “in da hood” language but when it infiltrates magazines like Good Housekeeping, there must be time to draw a line?

I’m not professionally offended, far from it. I do, however rebel against orders like these and don’t take kindly to people telling me I’m wrong.

Here’s hoping it stops.

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  It’s a Thing Now

  
  

What’s a thing? As a journalist this really gets my goat. It’s the laziest type of writing. It’s not a thing, it’s a trend, a popular hobby, a flash in the pan, a fashion. Use words please. Again, it’s cool if you write for Just 17, not so cool for Cosmo. In their language, in 2014 It’s a Thing was a Thing, what the feck is a thing? Next we’ll resort to Neanderthal grunts to get our point across.

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  Soooo….

  
  

I’m old enough to remember Alicia Silverstone in Clueless. This expression is not new. Neither is it a thing. It’s outdated, it’s so five minutes ago and it shows that the writer didn’t complete one day of journalism school. This is a word we’ve been taught to eliminate from titles. It’s another lazy phrase that has sarcastic ambiguity. In short, it’s disrespectful. It not only makes the writer look stupid, it assumes the readers are too.

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  Articles with Links

  
  

I recently got into a little debate about an article I looked forward to reading when I clicked on the link. It was titled, “movies to look out for in 2015”. As a movie buff, I settled down and expected 5 minutes with a cuppa as I learned what I’d be travelling to the cinema to see this year. The article was a series of titles with the shortest description. This was on a reputable news site.

Some didn’t have a description at all, just a list of directors, producers and actors, yet the author was credited as a writer.

Are you still a writer if you don’t write anything at all? Surely this type of post is simply data entry and anyone could do it?

The only place I want to see a list of titles is on the contents page of a reference book.

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  Studies

  
  

Case studies, research and analysis are valuable tools that we need in science, in business and in education but do we really need them in our everyday news?

In 2014 there were far too many studies to mention and many contradicted themselves while others fuelled the first argument as writers used them as solid proof that we’re “doing it wrong”.

There were studies that vegetarians were unhealthier than meat eaters, studies that vegans were healthier than carnivores, studies that obesity made us happier, studies that being skinny made us more content.

Studies that exercise could be hazardous to health, studies that no exercise would lead to premature death, studies that electronic cigarettes helped millions of people give up smoking, followed by studies that they could be more damaging to health that the real thing.

These are just the health studies, they don’t take into account the relationship studies, the sex studies, the parenting studies, the career studies.

On the plus side, no matter what a journalist writes about there is now a study to back up the claims. On the negative side I’m going to die within the next ten minutes if I don’t covert to veganism, swap my job for something less demanding and move to the artic.

I’m sure there’s more to add so please do chip in with some of your own, or, of course, let me know that I’m doing it all wrong!

Article Trends I Want to Wave Goodbye to in 2015