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Will written text survive as a communication medium?
Results so far:
| No | 13% | 187 votes | Total: 1450 votes | |
| Yes | 87% | 1263 votes |
No
by Lisa Fillers
Created on: October 11, 2007 Last Updated: March 18, 2009
Hand written text will probably not survive as a communication medium more than another generation. The largest red alert to this is that some school systems are already dropping the teaching of cursive writing from their curriculum. It came as quite a shock to me two years ago when my now ten year old granddaughter informed me her third grade class did not have to learn cursive writing. She went on to tell me, "We don't use it anymore."
With the current failing economy, major newspapers nationwide are in financial crisis. For some time many of these newspapers have owned websites which allow readers to access free information from the paper over the Internet. Already some newspapers have reduced the number of days per week they are delivering a newspaper. Eventually most, if not all, newspapers will become paid subscription by Internet only. This will leave many elderly and the poor who do not own a computer without a newspaper. Those who do subscribe on-line will only get a condensed version of what we now call a newspaper.
We have all watched as electronic mail and cards have been rapidly replacing the hand written letter and greeting cards sent through the U. S. Postal system. Banking business and bill payment are handled by many through the Internet. Americans have become lazier as technology advanced. The methods of communication that are faster and more convenient will prevail.
Banks are pushing a trend toward paperless business. Debit cards are now used by many to do all local business and for deposits and withdrawls through an ATM. Many banks are now offering monthly bank statements via email. Customers who telephone the bank to check the status of a direct deposit are given this information. However, they are usually encouraged to sign up to view their bank accounts through the website any time they please.
A vast amount of opportunities to communicate and study are available through the Internet. School systems are assigning students lap top computers as young as third or fourth grade. Eventually their school work will be done in majority on the computer. In the distant future computers could replace the school system we know today with in-home education for all grades. Already it is possible to get a college degree or a certificate from a technical school on-line. Advocates of gun control in the light of several recent murders in school systems across the United States may push to bring in-home education to fruition faster than natural progression would have brought it about.
Books on tapes are replacing the hard cover editions of typed text in the book stores for some consumers. It is more convenient to some to listen to another person narrate the book while driving or doing another activity than it is to sit down and read.
Text messaging is replacing telephone calls or hand written notes for many. Often mothers would rather text message their children than to call and have a conversation with the child or to leave a hand written note on the refrigerator. While I find these methods of communication impersonal for those able to communicate by telephone call, the invention of text messaging has opened up an easier world of communication for the hearing impaired.
Many people, including those not in the business world, have replaced their hand written Roladex with a PDA. These personal digital assistants hold not only their address book but their personal appointments, personal reminders, client schedules, shopping lists, and a variety of other information. Games can be played on a PDA and the PDA can be connected to a computer or another PDA and whole files transferred within seconds with the touch of a button.
Each year brings a newer, better version of an already existing piece of electronic equipment and brand new technologies to the consumer. As sad as it will be to see hand written text disappear from our society, in the end convenience and cost will be the victor.
Learn more about this author, Lisa Fillers.
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Yes
by Cameron Foster
Created on: March 14, 2009 Last Updated: May 25, 2009
Some claim that written communication (text) will be completely phased out in the not too distant future. However, an examination of history suggests this is unlikely to happen.
Changes since the Industrial Revolution offer concrete examples. When the locomotive was invented in the 1830s it was called the "Iron Horse". This colorful term was in deference to the thousands of years during which horses enjoyed a monopoly as the preferred transportation medium on land.
It was widely believed trains would make horses useless. While it's certainly true they largely replaced horses for both personal and mass transit, our hoofed friends are still in wide use today for recreation, for work in rugged areas, and throughout the world on farms and ranches. They are also still used for agricultural work and transportation in many parts of the world where mechanized alternatives are available, such as China and India.
Another example is of sailing ships. After the steam engine came into wide use in the 1860s, folks were writing off sailing ships as dinosaurs. Just as with the trains and cars, however, we saw a shift in application but nothing close to obsolescence for wind-powered watercraft. Their nostalgia and recreation value as well as their environmentally friendly zero-emission platform suggests they have a healthy future.
The third and final example is that of paper itself. The teaching in the 1980s was the coming of the "paperless office". Everything was to be computer based with electronic text, and waste-free business environments. This has not happened. And in fact paper use continues at a high level in the modern white-collar workplace, despite lots of computer usage. Hundreds of millions of books continue to be printed each year.
Amazon recently rolled out the "Kindle" e-book reader and to date about 300,000 units have sold. There are always people who quickly embrace change as this statistic testifies; while the mainstream technology modifies at a slower rate.
However, the evidence over the past 30 years shows that the cessation of book printing is unlikely. It is equally unlikely horses will disappear from work and pleasure, or that sailing ships will all be scuttled for internal combustion and electric-powered craft.
Some may argue that just as 8-tracks were replaced by the technically superior cassette, only to be trumped by CD and MP3 players, that written words will be replaced by computer-generated products eventually. However, this would be a false comparison. Eight tracks were inferior in quality, convenience and durability to cassettes, and so they died away.
The written word is a different and more personal form of expression than the typed ones you read now. While the computerized text offers uniformity, there will always be a need and indeed advantage at times with personal expression.
So the written word will likely continue to decrease in usage , but this is not the same as proclaiming it to be pass. Just as the sailing ship, the horse, and the book, written text usage will ebb and flow, but history suggests it's unlikely to become a lost art.
Learn more about this author, Cameron Foster.
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