The Loss of Literacy in Modern America

[Kisu Midori]

Well, since the beginning of the internet, even before the world wide web, people have used chat speak to make the conversation go faster. However, the text talk has evolved from abriviations of a set of words that were used a lot, ie: lol, lmao, brb, to taking out vowels. My only issue with it, besides the fact that it's hard to read, is that I can't take someone serious that can't even take pride in their vocabulary, and to me, people who speak like that, come across as unintellegent.  

[+Kyoka-chan+]

Cell phones, I think.
It's really hard to type out literate text messages on a cell phone fast.
Once people started using chatspeak there, they brought it over to the internet where they started using it in chatrooms since it made talking faster.

And here we have it drifting off into sites like gaia and even in modern day. It isn't even funny how many notes I see using chatspeak, or people who try and write an English essay using it.  

[hoshi.kagenokoi]

I know I personally used to use it out of sheer laziness and as a space filler for when I didn't have anything to say late at night. The lack of human contact involved in instant messaging caused that problem. One of my favorite aspects of human conversation is the non-awkward pause. It's so nice to have someone understand you without words. But that is really difficult to recreate over computers due to the lack of body language. So when you don't have anything to say in reply, all you can do is use an emoticon or an "lol". And that need to fill blank space is a really difficult habit to break.  

[Animefashiondes]

I seriously think that it's Peer Validation, because, as much as I hate to admit it, that's how I got into it. XP . I should never have. I wear glasses and have bad eyesight with them! It's hard for ME to decipher that s**t you call writing, and english was my first and foremose language. It's just going crazy. Grammar is Important, since when is one of my spanish buddies (who only speaks spanish) Will understand: Omg, rofl, tht is sooo fnny! I'm ROFLMAOLOLOLOLOL!!! Grammar! We learn this in elementary school! USE IT!!!

heart Yubi heart  

[KainGorda]

My vote goes to Peer Validation. Somebody goes to a forum, MySpace, or whatever, sees most of the people there using 'txt-talk' and finally deciphers it. They then see it is a faster way to get things across. So they use it.

Unfortunantly, that's how I got into it, but stopped myself when I realized I was typing SLOWER then I normally do. eek

I do like the Emoticons though.  

[[ Sadistic ]]

Emotioncons shouldn't be a problem for txttlk because technically, emotioncons are a way of expression with the use of cute faces, not with the use of putting our friendly vowels into extinction. I myself love the emotioncons and often like to put two in a line on their own when I use them:
eg. heart heart
...or whatever.
But txttlk is something that just might kill off the only vowels we have left.

gonk gonk

 

[Aren Luvs Horses]

It really could be any combination of things - TV, the internet, cell phones, etc. Not to mention the modern thing is to go paperless. If you ask me, I'd rather read a book or write a letter than watch TV. Usually if there is a movie based on a book and I'd like to see that movie I always make it a point to read the book first. I watched the Black Stallion before I ever read the book - but I read the book later and liked the book SO much better than the movie. The movie was still good, but there is just nothing like exploring a new world through literature. And especially with this particular movie so much of the book was left out - like the fact that in the book he had a mom and a dad, and in the movie he only had a mom. Just little things like that. I read the DaVinci Code before seeing the movie and I'm really glad I did - I think the movie alone would have lost all meaning. But having read the book first there were some things that the movie did clear up. And I liked the fact that this movie followed the book almost precisely. Okay, I'm done on my soap box now. Hope I haven't bored anyone to death.  

[LucindraBee]

It is the box that sits in people's living rooms, bedrooms and family rooms. Many kids haven't read the Harry Potter Series because it was in the theaters and on TV at home. Why read it when you can watch it. No imagination needed.

That and instant messaging. We wish to talk to our friends faster so we use shorter words like lol, omg, jk and orly. We want faster communication so we try to type faster by using this TXTTLK. I myself have used it and as useful as it is for writing faster, it decreases the chance that the person will want to use actual spelled out words because it takes to long to write out.

I blame the boob tube and peer validation.  

[Cherished Strawberries]

I blame laziness. If people weren't so lazy, they wouldn't just tell their kids to go watch TV or get on the computer. If they actually cared they would do something. And if our peers weren't so lazy they would actually play a game or something. There's more to life than the computer and the TV. Hell, even spellcheck misses half the words that aren't right, and then it thinks that there's something wrong with the grammar that isn't. If that isn't bad, I don't know what is. Sadly, it probably recognizes "txt tlk." I hate "txt tlk." I actually had to ask someone what they typed because I could even see how the letters were supposed to go together! I made me feel dumb, but then I realized that they were dumb for not being able to spell out what they meant.

I should probably stop ranting now. Otherwise I'll have written an essay on the decline of literature. I alreayd wrote one on the decline of classical music. sweatdrop  

[The Mikki]

[~♥ I blame laziness. It is basicaly the source of people not wanting to read books, Typing without a care, ect. And if it laziness wasn't here, They would start caring how to type, Start to read books much more often, and stuff like that. (Hmm... I havn't read a book for a while...) ♥~]

 

[Punkghoul]

stare Have any of you ever read the book 1984? In their society they use a similar type of language called Newspeak. The entire purpose of it is to eradicate the use of modern language so that everything you say contradicts itself, eventually making thought crime or even true thought impossibly negated. evil Read it. It kicks a**. evil  

[xXblacksakuraXx]

If any of you have perused Ayn Rand's Anthem, it has a similar plot to that described above. Only, instead of changing the entire speech of the world, they just remove 'I' and 'me' from their language. Very intriguing book.  

[Shredderhs]

Well, I don't know how America is influenced by bad literacy but I do know how modern England is. I am presuming the stories of my hometown and yours are somewhat similar. People are just too lazy to type out all of their words in full. That is the be all and end all of it, LAZINESS  

[Barrista]

Personally, I blame television. When Saddam Hussein was hung a couple weeks or so ago, all the news channels I watched said he was hanged. I might be wrong but I think the correct past tense for hang was hung? That's what I learned in school. Then again, I didn't and still don't, attend the best school, so maybe my schooling is at fault. What bothers me the most is how chatspeak has leaked to national TV. Just the other day I was watching some news channel, I forget which, and a newsanchor said "Well, I don't know how he's going to slide his way through this one! LOL!" Students are encouraged to watch the news these days and eventually will quote some part of the news.  

[ph34r_meh]

I blame it on pure laziness. One of my friends sent me a fairly illiterate text message the other day. There were no periods, capitals, or proper spellings of words. It took me a few minutes to understand what he was trying to say to me, and I sent him a message telling him so. He replied that he was just too lazy to to it properly. It irks me every time I get a text message from him.