Is the written word becoming disposable?
With computers having become ubiquitous and the internet providing instant access to news, information and entertainment, “leet speak” and acronyms taking place of actual words, and the sheer laziness of people complaining that words are “too difficult to spell“, has the written word lost it’s cachet?
The more I dig into the offerings of the internet, its message boards and social sites, I’m astounded at how trivial people treat spelling and punctuation. I’ll be the first to admit that I myself am not the perfect practitioner of grammar, but at least I try to spell and apply the correct punctuation where appropriate. For others, however, it’s as if speed is more important then precision; the lack of capitalization, punctuation and spelling seems to take a back seat to spitting out misshapen, inarticulate thoughts without review or analysis.
And hey, sometimes that’s exactly what’s called for…but when it becomes a habit, and that habit becomes accepted behavior, I fear for the intellectual future of this current generation that has never known a day without the internet, books on CD, grammar checkers and cut-and-paste.
Words have been cheapened. Ideas are recycled and regurgitated so fast that critical thought and examination have fallen by the wayside. Reading material by Brautigan, Wolfe, Hemingway, Burroughs, Thompson, Wells and Twain has fallen out of style, replaced by hourly updates about celebrity rumors and pop culture news from questionable sources such as TMZ, DIGG, Facebook, YouTube, Twitter, Fark, Gawker and OMG.
We’ve become a people raised on disposable information and carefully managed sound bites. We’re conditioned to process information a miserable 140 characters at a time. Reading novels is far too time consuming. Unpopular. Passé. Hell, even blogs like mine are contributing to the decline of our short attention span society. It’s been proven that to have a successful blog means keeping paragraphs short. We’re just helping to support negative behavior in our pursuit of unique visitors.
As bloggers, we’re such whores. A dirty lot.
“Well, if you think you know everything, then what’s the solution?” I can hear you ask. I really don’t know. Honestly, I don’t have a solid answer. This situation is driven by the environment, but if you’re a parent I’d suggest having your that kid simply read. Turn off the computer, the stereo, the television, prop them up on the couch, and have them read. Heck, have them read aloud to you. Get them to critically think about what they’ve read. Engage their minds without the static of outside interferences. Explain to them that “BFF” and “LOL” are not real words and will never find acceptance from companies reviewing their resume. Teach them that quick information is fine, but literary discoveries will always be much more rewarding.
(HermanTurnip pauses and re-reads what he just wrote)
Jeez…when did I turn into my old man!?
Writing writing
