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http://www.newyorker.com/online/blogs/books/2009/09/a-new-literacy.html
I found this article and the referenced study very interesting, and it captured a new angle on the “technology and literacy” debate- how has writing changed, not just reading? I really do have to agree with the study’s conclusion that technology has increased writing, because so often now we communicate through text, not through spoken words.
I liked it. It’s shorter than most articles that have been linked to.
Is guilty of posting long articles
Oops.
I think the increase in writing is a good thing, but at the cost of personal interaction… my sister has facebook and she uses it to communicate with all the people she’s just seen at school all day.
Speaking of facebook, the grammar on there has really been annoying me. I’m so tired of see “your” instead of “you’re.” I’d even prefer “u r” or “ur.” At least that’s just textspeak. And also, they never use “it’s,” only “its.”
Sorry, I just saw and “its” post. It was annoying.
Interesting article. It’s nice to see someone who isn’t flipping out about how the English language is supposedly falling to pieces. Back when telegraphs were first invented, people were worried that they would ruin the English language in much the same way that they worry about things like texting now.
But yeah, I have to agree with Steph. It’s great that people are writing more, but it’s also making people bad at face-to-face interaction. I have a friend who is very social on the internet, but absolutely horrified of talking to people in real life. I’ve heard it referred to it as being “technolonely.”
And yet there’s some people who would never become social in real life who are able to express themselves as much as they want online. So in a sense, that’s not necessarily a bad thing- it gives those who would otherwise never socialize a chance to socialize in a different way.
I think I confuse people in real life, because sometimes I can be really social, and other times I’m really uptight. People in my chemistry class see me as tense, but my friends know that I can be pretty outgoing too.
And then I confuse my aquaintances because sometimes I talk so much it’s exhausting, and other times I don’t talk at all.
Eh, I probably should have worded my point better. Interaction on the internet, through texting, ect. are not necessarily bad things. In fact, I think they’re very good things. They’re wonderful for long distance communication, meeting people you otherwise wouldn’t meet in real life, and all that. The problem is that some people spend too much time on the internet, and don’t develop their social skills. Like it or not, humans are very social creatures, and you can only live so much of your life in front of a computer screen.
@SWQ
Haha, I know what you mean, but I think that’s true of everyone to a certain extent. People form opinions about you based on their limited interactions with you, so their perceptions will naturally be skewed.
THEIR perceptions. Gah.
THIS. Wait, you were the one who wrote “they’re perceptions”? FAIL.
You can go back and edit comments, lawzard.
And yet there’s some people who would never become social in real life who are able to express themselves as much as they want online.
This really is a problem. Like, if you get married and you can’t communicate with your partner properly. Like it or not, face-to-face is how we’re made.
Plus there’s the danger of opening up too much. People say all kinds of things online that they’d never dream of saying in person because they can’t envision that there’s a real person at the end of the line. They can be too revealing, too smutty, and in some cases, too mean. There was a case where some cyber-bullies were shocked to find out that the girl they’d been ‘teasing’ in fun had actually killed herself because the bullying had gotten that bad at that end.
Not that I’m saying that internet communication is bad (otherwise I’d never have met all you wonderful people), just that it really is no substitute.
You can go back and edit comments, lawzard.
stands around whistling, trying not to look like a noob and failing pretty badly
They’re actually passing internet integrity laws? I heard someone talking about them once, but I thought they were just a theoretical possibility. What kind of laws are we talking about?
How is that possible, anyway? The Internet isn’t limited to one country, so without a lot of messy cases dealing with boundaries and what country’s responsible for what, I don’t see how they could get any sort of international laws in place…
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