Ah instant messaging. Where would we be without it right? After reading the speech by nobel prize winner Doris Lessing, it got me thinking. Although I think some of her statements are ridiculous, I immediately started thinking about the internet's effect on our generation.
The first thing that popped into my head was instant messaging. Although it certainly makes us faster typers, has it made us poorer writers? With all of the "lol's" and "brb" and various other ways of getting our thoughts as fast as possible (afap). See, I made my own acronym up! Granted as a student, I switch into a different mode when writing. However, it's hard to tell sometimes if some of these habits acre crossing over. I came across an interesting article on the subject. There seems to evidence supporting both sides of the debate. What do you think?
2 comments:
I agree that Instant Messaging is making us, IM every day users, become poorer writers. Since you are used to writing with acronyms, you start using these acronyms in e mails without thinking. This starts becoming a problem when you e mail your boss or a client with these acronyms and you realized you had those acronyms in the e mail after you send it. These people are going to frown upon your writing.
As a Mexican eith English as my second language, the IM acronyms that everybody uses is like a brand new language for me. I have to learn each and every one of these "new words" (brb, lol, etc.) because I never understand what people are saying. We do not have these acronyms in the spanish language IM so this is new to me and every spanish speaker.
Hector is right...even though i dont do it consciously, I find myself sometimes using these acronyms in my emails. But more importantly, I find myself using poor grammar in emails and that is even worse. I forget to put an apostrophe when i write don't or spell you're like your....all because it is faster and easier when i am typing an IM
This is definitely hurting our writing habits.
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