dumbify

name	dumbify
description	Use when writing or auditing content that has to be easy to follow — explainer reels, teaching carousels, how-to scripts, any piece that teaches or explains something — or when a draft feels dense, jargony, high-effort, or hard to follow. Lowers reading level and mental load so people keep watching and reading. Pairs with the other writing skills in this pack.

Dumbify

People don't churn because content is too simple. They churn because following it is too much work. Every bit of mental effort — a fancy word, a nested sentence, undefined jargon — is a reason to swipe away. This skill cuts that effort.

Target: ~8th-grade reading level for the body, ~6th for hooks. Easy to follow = low strain = high retention.

Simple language, not simple ideas

You are lowering the reading level, not dumbing down the thinking. The idea can be sophisticated; the words shouldn't be. Simple ≠ simplistic. A sharp 13-year-old should be able to follow it — that doesn't mean the insight is for 13-year-olds.

Where it earns its keep

• High value: explainers, educational/teaching content, how-to, anything on a technical, financial, or abstract topic. This is where dense writing kills retention.
• Low value: already-conversational captions, short hooks, casual personal stories — these come out simple naturally. Don't force this skill where there's nothing to simplify.

The moves

1. Cut jargon — or swap it for the word you'd use telling a friend who isn't in the field. (Jargon the audience shares is fine — it's only friction when they don't have it. If you have an audience profile, respect the jargon they already know; a technical audience keeps its technical words.)
2. One idea per sentence — break nested clauses into separate sentences.
3. Common words over fancy ones — use not utilize, help not facilitate, show not demonstrate, enough not sufficient, about not approximately.
4. Concrete over abstract — "the export button" not "the relevant control"; "you'll save 2 hours" not "efficiency gains."
5. Active voice — "the model picks the next word," not "the next word is selected by the model."
6. Cut filler that adds no meaning — "basically," "in order to," "the fact that."
7. Teach by example — one concrete example lowers load more than a precise definition. Show it happening.

Don't let it fight the other skills

• Rhythm (storytelling): simplify the words and structure, not the length variety. A long sentence is fine if it's made of simple words and reads in one breath. Never flatten everything into short choppy sentences to "hit a grade level" — that kills the music storytelling builds. Vary length; keep words plain.
• Specificity (anti-ai-writing): these agree. Concrete specifics — a number, a name, an example — make a piece easier to follow, not harder. "$1,000 becomes $10,000 in 30 years" is both more specific and more readable than "your money grows substantially."
• Voice: don't sand off your personality to simplify. Keep your words and your slang; cut the complexity around them.

How to gauge the level (no tool needed)

• Read it aloud. Stumble, run out of breath, or have to re-read a sentence? Too dense — break it up.
• The 13-year-old test. Would a sharp 13-year-old follow it on the first pass?
• Spot the load: flag words over 3 syllables that have a plain substitute, sentences over ~25 words, more than one clause nested in a sentence, and any jargon the audience may not share.

Writing mode

Draft normally first. Then do a load pass: find the two or three densest sentences and lighten them — plainer words, split the nests, add an example where a definition is doing the work.

Audit mode

Flag each high-load spot with the exact line, then give the simpler rewrite. Keep the meaning and the voice intact.

SIMPLIFY AUDIT (target ~8th grade):
  Jargon:        FLAG — "returns compound on the principal" → "you earn money on the money you already earned"
  Nested clause: FLAG — "Because the gains, which accrue annually, are reinvested, the balance grows faster"
                 → "Each year's gains get added back in. So the next year, they earn too."
  Abstraction:   FLAG — "significant long-term growth" → "$1,000 becomes over $10,000 in 30 years"
  Reading level: ~11th grade → rewrite lands ~7th
  Rewrite: [plainer version, rhythm and voice preserved]

Anti-overfitting

Don't baby-talk. Don't strip nuance the idea needs. Don't make every sentence short — that's flattening, not simplifying. Don't remove a technical term the audience knows and expects. The test: could a smart person in the target audience follow this without effort, while still feeling it respects their intelligence? If it reads as dumbed-down, you went too far.