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| Yes | 65% | 89 votes | Total: 137 votes | |
| No | 35% | 48 votes |
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Add to FavoritesAre we surrendering the proper use of grammar and spelling to the Internet? I'd have to say yes. In an attempt to condense and speed up the transfer of information, the use of "Web Hieroglyphics" has become common place. We drop vowels, group first letters of words, use picture symbols to represent other words; all to expedite our message quicker over the net. Complete grammar rarely fits into a 100 character line, and you need vowels to spell words correctly. Now is this really harming our collective literacy... again I'd have to say yes! Knowledge is like a muscle; you need to exercise it regularly to keep it strong and healthy. When typing everything in capital letters is used to express emotion instead of punctuation, I can't help but feel that the true beauty of our language has slipped a little.
I was fortunate, I had a 6th grade teacher who was passionate about sentence structure. She used bracketing to fine tune our understanding of composition, and flash cards to teach conjunction phrases. We had a playback machine to help with spelling, and a speed reading machine to encourage us to explore the written word. She force fed us her love of the English language and because of it we entered Jr. High with our tools already secured. Add to that the "School Of Rock" on Saturday mornings, (who could ever forget, " Conjunction Junction What's Your Function"), and it is easy to see where my commitment to proper language comes from. Does that mean that I never stray from the strictest rules of grammar... hell no! I'm as flawed as the next person, especially when trying to be creative with my words. I like to paint pictures with words; so I'm not above using ain't", and I'll start a sentence with "And" or "But". Regardless of all that I have learned my sentence structure and try to maintain the form.
My fear is that those born to technology are practicing the shorthand before learning the true nature of the language. If you learn the theory but never practice it regularly you don't really learn it. It becomes as lost as those calculus formulas you memorized in high school. I know too many recent graduates who don't know the difference between an adverb and an adjective, but they can text 100 words a minute. And they are happy with that! I still write my e-mails using correct sentence structure. To me it feels wrong to do it any other way, even though I know that by the time it gets opened on the other end it could be rearranged anyway. Still I take the time to try to do it right. It's about keeping your tools sharp. That is how I think the Internet harms our writing skills; it dulls those tools.
I think about all those historic letters written by soldiers to their families before major battles. Narrations penned often times by barely literate foot soldiers, but spelled out in elegant form. They were taught to write in complete and cautious detail. Then I think about our soldiers today; for them it is a non-issue. They are fortunate enough to be able to communicate in real time to their love ones through the technology. But that privilege comes at a lose. They will never have that shoe box full of thoughts recorded on paper to hand down to their children. Video conferencing and text messages don't leave tangible records. That kind of correspondence does not lend itself to the World Wide Web. The Internet is fast and fierce, and up to the minute. Information is dropped in an instant with just a click of a mouse. Of course with that speed comes the lose of precision. And the real beauty of our language is in that precision. When we surrender our grammar and spelling to the Internet we sacrifice that accuracy and give up the real beauty of our language.
Learn more about this author, John Boguhn.
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No
Internet use represents a cultural shift in communication patterns. The mere fact that this website exists with an abundant number of articles and topics is indicative of this new association with writing. Writing is no longer an exclusively formal endeavor. As certain speech usage is applicable to different situations, so too has writing become scenario dependent. The web is not compromising the ability of children to understand and utilize the rules of grammar.
Internet writing is rapidly developing it's own dialect. This dialect may bleed to and from the use of text messaging, but provided a child reads books and is taught grammar and spelling in school the Internet dialect need not impact formal writing. The purpose of this dialect is to mimic speech patterns, and to express oneself in a quick, yet direct way. There is no secret that we do not speak as we write. Nor should we. There are instances where grammatically inaccurate sentences convey meaning in a way that the proper phrasing never can. So if a person is attempting to communicate online in a means that provides a true one-on-one connection it makes sense to mimic speech.
The seriousness of an online site, such as a blog, can then be determined based on presentation. If a person blogs using the electronic dialect (for want of a better term), the blog is intended far more casually than is a similar blog using complete, grammatical sentence structure. The aim of the author is different, and so the authority given the writer of each scenario corresponds to their use if the language. It does not follow that because a person uses ppl or ttyl or lol or botches the spelling of particular words that they are incapable of formal writing.
Naturally that distinction does become one of formal and informal. Again, when a person is teaching a class, or giving a speech, or attempting to build any sort of authority a person is going to use formal speech. If that same person is hanging out with their friends at a bar or cafe, a whole different set of vocabulary and sentence structure will be used. The degree to which writing and and reading are being used to communicate in modern society has no prior parallel, unless perhaps the Gutenberg Press.
Before the printing press, there were no strict written grammatical rules. The need to homogenize language came after the advent of the mass market book. Not that individuals stopped there, Latin rules were then incorporated into English by the Renaissance writers, as Latin had more prestige than Germanic languages. Other than a concerted effort to differentiate American English from British English by the writers of American dictionaries, there has been a greater linguistic stagnation in the literate world than ever before. We are losing languages, rather than gaining languages. Even regional dialects, such as the Northern Californian hella finds itself into a popular song by No Doubt, and enters the spoken dialect of a wider region.
Suddenly, with writing being the main focus of communication and a cultural view of authority linked to the written word, writing changes. Our nation was founded with much action, but also the Declaration of Independence. The constitution, Law; these are composed of words. Even in education we learn from text books. The purpose of formal writing and the authority given it is then attached to its use in our society. We can't use formal writing to convey the same meaning as Hey, 'sup? Nor would we have considered writing a note with such words before the electronic age.
Our wording in correct juxtaposition conveys personality in a means only those who have known us in other contexts can understand. The use of formal language with electronic communication (forums and instant messaging) can even cause problems. On forums, if j/k is not included then the intent of the author might not be discernible. Should that same author not use complete sentences, or follow grammar rules, the j/k may or may not be needed. How seriously can a person take someone else who isn't writing formally?
Keeping communication casual online is essential to comfortable communication. Moving from formal to informal writing is akin to moving from formal to informal speech. As long as educators do not expect the Internet to teach children to read, there is no reason why a person cannot learn to textually code switch.
Learn more about this author, Drea Moore.
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