More (not so) fun facts:
54% of American adults read below a 6th grade level.
21% read below a 5th grade level, which is considered functionally illiterate.
High immigration numbers don’t fully explain it either, as first gen immigrants only make up about 1/3 of those with low literacy.
when I read it, i feel like I know why technical documentation is so stupid and obtuse instead of clear and obvious.
tech people generally have a poor grasp of how to communicate information effectively, let alone in a style that isn’t tedious and boring.
everytime i read a technical document I ask myself who the hell wrote this and what the hell were they thinking. then i re-write it for my employees in a way that is actually understandable and applicable to reality, instead of paragraphs and paragraphs of self-referencing jargon that seems to be in love with itself.
People don’t often get into tech to be writers. Also, though, I’ve found that paraphrased tech manuals usually leave out the most important bits of information whenever I have to use one.