From Paper to Internet, Writing has evolved.
I am someone who has always enjoyed writing. I remember writing rough draft after rough draft in middle school only to re-write it again in Pen to make it professional. The ability to manual see my changes and to create a story really resonated with me. I liked to physically write because it kept me engaged and made me cognizant of everything I was creating. Today, technology has greatly impacted the way we write as it has changed the concepts and the structure in which we were accustomed to. With the internet, the ease with which we delete or expand, cut and paste, add or subtract might have resulted in the loss of thought and introspection that previous generations of writers put into their work. The act of putting pen to paper requires thought — hence all the writing and discussion of the fear of a blank page. Even writing in pencil is far more of a commitment to the work than simply tapping away at your keyboard (Fetzer. 2014). We used to spend loads of hours researching, preparing, sharpening, writing and rewriting, double checking and even erasing, just to make sure what we wrote was perfect.
Today, we punch keys on the keyboard, string sentences together and can quickly delete or revise and even fact check in a matter of minutes. Platforms such as social media have impacted the written word as well I feel as though we are venturing into a world where full sentences are going by the wayside and being replaced with hashtags and character limits. Everything you read on the internet today ,consists of some sort of abbreviation or a snip it of an actual story. People don't seem to be taking the time to really put an effort into what is being written and are instead quickly just writing what they feel as quickly as possible. Today, written words already hold a dominant place in our society. They are the primary way we generate, communicate and store ideas. Look at our laws (the Constitution), moral code (the Bible) and culture (books, lyrics, movies, newspapers, plays, television).But the landscape is undergoing a seismic shift. Writing is being reshaped in four exciting ways. More people are writing more frequently and in more formats. There are more than 2 billion email users; 180 million blogs; 400 million daily tweets; and 8.6 trillion SMS annual text messages (Budig & Heap, 2013). Because technology allows for so many different platforms, writing is becoming easier. Texting has allowed for shortcuts such as spelling and acronyms, email has altered the path of memo’s and ideas and blogging has opened opportunities for people to speak their mind without ever having to really answer any questions. Stories, articles, news updates, etc can all be received in a matter of minutes due to the speed of the internet, whereas years ago, we didn't receive updates until days later because everything had to be hand written. Without technology, I fear that writing and how we communicate would be stale and there wouldn’t be as many creative ideas or platforms to incorporate our thoughts.
To see how Texting affects teens and everyone today, go to: http://www.medicaldaily.com/can-texting-ruin-childs-grammar-and-spelling-impact-learning-write-cell-phone-288950
Budig, G., & Heaps, A. (2013, August 7). Are we in the middle of a writing revolution? Column. Retrieved from http://www.usatoday.com/story/opinion/2013/08/07/writing-revolution-digital-technology-column/2621353/
Fetzer, D. (2014, August 20). How Technology Affects the Way We Write | LitReactor. Retrieved from https://litreactor.com/columns/how-technology-affects-the-way-we-write
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