It becomes increasingly clear as I'm forced to delve into the adult world that people from the previous generation (or their parents) are not only somewhat isolated from mine, but downright uncomfortable with certain taken-for-granted aspects. This shouldn't be a huge surprise considering generation gaps have always caused some wariness on both sides, but it's strange when one is right in the middle of it.
For example, I was talking to one of my father's coworkers, a very nice conversational woman, about Twilight and some of my issues. We actually didn't get to talk long which was probably to her benefit because I was just about to go into my long tirade but she did make one comment that stuck with me, not only because I believe it to be wrong but also because it offense my sense of identity as a member of NetGen.
"I don't blame these books for kids not being able to spell or read. I blame that thing *points to my phone* and text messaging."
I was not able to tell her why I thought she was incorrect, so you get to hear instead.
As most of you know, I am a texting fiend. We have to have an unlimited plan because otherwise we'd spend about five hundred dollars, just for texting.
I can, however, form a coherent sentence, complete with more-or-less (depending on how much I care at the moment) correct grammar structure and few spelling errors.
This attitude isn't new. They (adults, and so on) said the same thing about instant messaging. That it was going to destroy language as we know it. And truthfully, the internet has changed the way we talk, write and even think.
Bob Salvatore said that writers now have to be more clear about who is talking in a dialogue because the readers are used to reading an instant message conversation where the speaker's name/username is displayed above their message. This needn't be seen as better or worse, it is just a changing perspective.
These arguments, to me, demonstrate a discomfort with the staples of the Internet Generation. They are similar to the arguments against web-journalism, blogging and forums. Those who are not involved frequently discredit them as invalid, sometimes with much justification, but almost always out of a sense of alienation.
But I digress.
MSN and Blackberries are not to blame for kids' inability to spell anymore than video games and Marylin Manson is to blame for them being violent. It's a cop out for parents and the school system.
I can continue texting and still be able to spell when the occasion calls for it because I had a good education, with a heavy emphasis on clear communication which encouraged proper grammar and spelling. I read a LOT of books, most of them above my age level, which exposed me to various styles of writing and a lot of "big" words. You know, those with more than two syllables.
The United States has the worst education system of any developed nation. This was a problem even before the No Child Left Behind Act of 2001 which just threw gasoline on the blaze. So part one of the responsibility lies there.
Part two is on the parents who consider it wholly a teacher's job to educate their children. These are the parents who don't help their kids with homework, who don't encourage them, and then get uppity when the teacher points out their child is falling behind. Where do you think children learn that sense of entitlement?
And yes, to some extent, I do blame Harry Potter and Twilight, but only a microscopic amount. I appreciate that they 'got kids to read', though I disagree that they (especially HP) 'saved literacy'. What they did was get kids to read at a perpetually fourth grade level. There are a lot of better books out there that would challenge young readers more, get them more interested and would encourage them to raise their reading level. I admit, I wouldn't be so critical if I didn't see a lot of kids who started reading Harry Potter books and then found everything else "too hard" or boring because they couldn't understand it. That isn't the series' fault at all, it just diminishes my appreciation for its contribution to the writing world.
Technology is always going to be an easy scapegoat because there's a correlation. Young people use more technology. Young people have X problems. Well, OBVIOUSLY the technology must be causing X problems. This is a logical fallacy.
I don't doubt that everything mentioned is a contributing factor. Writing online all the time CAN (and probably does) make kids lazy. I actually think that the way text messaging and things like Twitter have altered language simply shows its versatility and adaptability. It shows people thinking outside the box. Now, once they are back IN the box, yes, they have to talk like the other Boxites.
My point is that even if the internet and all its byproducts HAVE degraded grammar and spelling, it would not have been able to do so if children's grasp of those subjects wasn't already weak. If they knew better BEFORE they got online, it wouldn't matter as much. We need to improve our schools first (and possibly issue parenting licenses :P) and if there are still problems after, we can deal with them, too. In the end, the buck stops with those in authority, the parents and the teachers. Funny how they are the first to condemn then, isn't it?
Yeah, I'm still here.
12 years ago
2 comments:
To also plug a language-geek perspective in here, language is by definition in a constant state of change. Subtle, slow change, but change nonetheless. Otherwise, a language will actually cease to survive--because if a language does not change as life around it does, communication on the whole eventually becomes irrelevant to its context. "Blog" would have been a nonsense word until its invention, now it's an important concept as we begin to flex the possibilities of digital written media. Linguistic changes also reflect shifts in cultural attitudes and norms. Though 1337-speak, lolcat-ese outside of captioned pictures, and the like DO annoy me and I do think a certain amount of spelling and grammar laziness is perpetuated by the web (after all, the web essentially allows anyone with an internet connection to become an author of sorts), there are many who believe that it will come unto its own as an actual dialect; as a subset. Some even already consider "netspeak" a sort of computer-specific pidgin.
As a historical note, new communications technology seems to have frequently been as initially feared and mistrusted as new weapons technology. I saw a single-panel cartoon once that featured an early-history man busily inscribing the day's events on a stone tablet while a nearby friend tugged at his hair in worry and cautioned, "Careful! If you keep doing this, you'll stop using your memory!" When television was introduced, some panicked and theorized it would replace reading (it fortunately has yet to). I say this is because they are inherently different mediums--a television program is different from a book is different from a movie is different from an internet multimedia presentation is different from a comic is different from a radio program. If you were to take a story and adapt it to all these media, the result would not be the exact same thing in different media. It would be a similar core idea adapted to whatever medium the viewer/listener/audience member was using. I think different media forms will continue to coexist alongside each other. I do not think that e-books will, for example, replace books, since reading text on a screen is still a different experience than reading text on a page (and there is a small but growing subset of "e-literature," written works designed to be read specifically on a computer and playing to those advantages). Likewise, I don't think video-sharing sites like YouTube will wholly replace television.
Kind of drifted off topic there, if I had one to begin with, but this was just a fun entry to chime in to.
I quite agree with you. This was fascinating and quite eloquent and enjoyable to read.
Interestingly, by the way, guess who has the worst grammar and spelling when they text me? Not my peers...hahaha :D It's the older generation, fumbling around with this technology, that commit the most errors in my little world!
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