Bullet points

I don't think that bullet points existed until word-processing. I certainly don't remember them. Until then, if you wrote a report or an essay, you were required to compare and contrast; or, weigh the pros and cons; or, consider the implications. You had to think ideas through carefully and express them as clearly as you could. If you took a pride in it, you balanced the ideas through the prose, thesis and antithesis.

Nowadays, if someone asks you for a report, they ask for half-a-dozen bullet points, no more than a page of A4.

I can't help but think that something has been lost, in the expression but also in the understanding.