I understand… unfortunately, from the other side, I have received so many emails/links/leaflets with woefully out of date information, that I often still try to get direct contact with someone on the inside to confirm stuff.

Lately, I’ve spend an afternoon queuing and getting documents for a government mcGuffin, just to be told at the third meeting with the same staff member that I was an exception and all that stuff did not apply to me at all, I had to go to another office and bring a different set of documents.

I had to directly contact my health insurance three times in one month because the information on their website was out of date.

I had to directly request some “public” documents from HR because the website was last updated early 2024, but there was a law change January 2025.

So many instances like these make me skim emails and often reach out directly. I’m sorry it bites you in the ass.

You need to Google "what is the average reading level in America" . The answers will clear up a great deal about scientific literacy, reading comprehension, and poorly educated voting block.

Growing up has made me realize there were never any adults in the room

Just overgrown children in adult bodies

You seem riled up! Is it because of your work? What do you do for work?

I had a guy "quick call?" me, screen share my email and read his written response aloud to me before sending. I was speechless.

I assume that all commenters are not American since Americans are illiterate and therefore could not read or reply to this post

If you write a wall of text and put bullets at the end, you lost them already.

More modern approach to the widespread lack of attention spans is BLUF (bottom line, up front). One or two (max) sentences about what they need to do, at the beginning of the email, not the end.

Have you tried whacking their hands with hammers? It won’t help the literacy thing, but it’ll make you feel good for a bit.

I've had the same problem for years. No matter how clear, simple and easy you make it; they still fail to grasp basically anything.

Bullet points, numbered lists, bold, underlined, BLUF, TLDR; nothing gets through to them.

My partner still says I can't k**l them.

Op, start writing each person that reads and doesn't read. If you get to a kilo over, you have a paper to publish!😆

I 100% believe you.

Starving and illiterate is a bad bad combo.

I don't get how and why people prefer a phone call. Quality of audio on a phonecalls is abysmal, it's pretty hard to re-read the same info (you can record if you set up this way, not all recorders have access to input audio as is and just records whatever it can from the mic). And I need to have that spare minute while I'm not engaged in any other activities that require my immediate attention.

Why some people can't just mail the same thing.

Humans run on less power than a fucking light bulb so I'm never surprised. It frustrates me, too. I'm also pretty sure AI is meant to fill in those follow up answers (e.g. find the answer from your text) but it's just not there yet due to made up nonsense-- and even then it really shouldn't be needed, especially for well read people.

Personally, my theory is across all groups, not enough Americans get adequate sleep, water, nutrition, and (most importantly) thoughtful quiet time without work demands- including no social media, lol. Overlooking shit, misspeaking, forgetting what you just saw or read, making impulse decisions, being selfish- all symptoms when someone's needs aren't met.

The more education a person has, the less they read.

Maybe some paragraphs or line breaks...?