Words are worth a thousand pictures

Believing that “a picture is worth a thousand words” may be what’s wrong with your ability to learn.

In today’s fast-paced society, digital pictures, videos, e-maps, and graphics flood the information channels. The art of writing, on the other hand, appears to be on a steep nosedive aimed at Shakespeare’s grave. Snapshots have displaced words, or so it seems.

Yes we live in picturesque times, but no kaleidoscope will ever surpass the power of language. Pictures are outside. Words are inside. Pictures are distant. Words are within your control. Words explain, remember, narrate, and provide a focused clarity that pictures, subjective by nature, cannot deliver.

Beautifully, words can be multifarious or brief. Pictures that are busy beget headaches; those that are scant bring ridicule for presenting rudimentary, replicable art. The power of words is extreme.

Think of the last book you’ve read. How mesmerizing was the cover? Grant you, it may have captured your attention for more than a few fleeting moments. However, did you dwell on it for hours, or days, or weeks? The words beyond the flap, however, seized you as early as the first quizzical sentence. Later, clever, conflict-laden, and active words zeroed in on your attention and refused your surrender.

Understand that I recognize that there are different learning styles. Understand that pictures help all learning styles succeed better. But understand that you would learn best if you shifted pictures to the margin and relinquished your penchant for photography.

Become an avid reader. It is the indisputable, indispensable, top tool for learning. 

Pictures are pretty but language rocks. Words are worth a thousand pictures.