Welcome to Gaia! ::

It's kind of on the list, but I would say Messenger, Texting (Phone) and other forms of communication.

People find all these ways of shortening things, and they also save time (but kill grammar) by missing out apostrophes, commas, colons, semi-colons...

As well, laziness (combined with computers) is definitely a problem. 'Why learn to write properly? The computer will spellcheck it for me.' 'Why learn to have good handwriting? I can just type it out.' etc.

Television, I think, is actually not that big of a problem. Although most TV shows nowadays promote stupidity, the dialogue is actually grammatically correct most of the time.

@applecyder: I am among the well-read kids, and I am quite popular at my school. I guess that the reason most smart kids are unpopular is due to the fact that most people stereotype them for nerds (there is a difference).

Yes i agree. The schools are messed up, I moved from Michigan to Texas and found out that i had to redo most classes because they have lower standards.

However, that's not to say that a parent should be shoving books down a child's throat. My little brother is a prime example of that. He likes to read, but doesn't have the attention span for big books yet. When I was his age, I was reading Harry Potter. He's still on long magazine articles and short stories. He reads them quickly enough, but he lacks the attention span to sit down a and read a long book. My father expects him to be me, and he shoves Harry Potter into the poor boy's face and yells at him if he doesn't read.

This kind of thing turns a child away from reading and gaining knowledge in general. My little brother hates reading because of my dad. He actually was beginning to like it before Harry Potter was forced on him.

I would have to say it is laziness and an attempt to fit in. I used "Txt-tlk" for about 2 days on a myspace IM, and then never used it again. I never got how people put "lol" at the end of their own messages, especially if they aren't funny. I think to myself, "What a d**k. Do you intentionally make an a** out of yourself? You're not friggen' funny." It's like laughing at your own dim-witted joke. It makes you an a**. But when I did use it it was like "brb in 20 minutes", not horrible, but bad.

I, being a metalhead, hate all things mainstream. I got rid of Myspace and discovered the wonderful world of Gaia. I began to hate the mainstream usage of "Txt-Tlk" and then found this guild. I think it all started with laziness, and then it became a norm for everyone. A few people start using it out of laziness, and then other dickweeds think it looks cool, and spread it like cancer. It then becomes a tumor on the head of out brain-dead society that I believe is collapsing out of a "Lemming Effect". One person jumps off the bridge, everyone follows. This is true in almost all aspects. People think the "Thug Life" is cool, so we end up with body bags full of youth with gang tatoos. Everyone hears something on the media, and they believe it to be true. We end up with a country full of ignorant leftists.

(Liberals are interested in a intellectual debate, leftists are people who don't know, only believe, and therefore are incapable of thought, the people who say "Bush is an idiot", and if you ask them why, they have no response. If you are here in this guild, go stick your head in the fire, cleanse our gene pool. This isn't a politics thread, but I hope you all see my point.)

People see no use to be educated because our government is handing out welfare, so they can live off of that and minimum wage at Mcdonald's, and they drop out at 16. We end up with too many fast food restaurants full of people who speak ten words or English. It is horrible.

Wow, that was long. Basically, it was laziness followed by a "Lemming-Effect" and topped off with a lack of desire to learn. I know it went a bit away from the point, but it all relates. That's my $20 and 2 cents.

I've seen a couple of people in here say that it was out of laziness, but I have a hard time beliveing that, mostly because I'm about four times lazier than everyone else I know. (Wow, run on sentence, Teeks, nice one. )

Having a good grammar isn't just about education either. I'm, frankly, one of the failling teens in my oh-so-prestegious highschool, and most of them -even the ones in AP English (Where as I am not)- Complain about how grammatically picky I am.

Or maybe I just got into internet culture too early in my life...
Whoops.

What has caused the loss of literacy is all of those things listed in the poll. Not only is it that, but it seems that society itself discourages people from being literate, because those that are literate are shown as outsiders, something that all should stay away from, because its not "cool" to be smart. And the nation wonders why America is behind in terms of education? It's because of our culture, and the way things are displayed in the media that we are as we are. Most people believe what they see on the screen and are easily swayed. What is being shown on the popular channels is that to be literate is to be mocked, terrorized, and completely isolated.

As a side note, I have not seen television at all for eight going on nine months. I don't miss it one bit...but when I tell others that, they stare at me as if I have lost it; even my parents treat me different because I choose to read and study instead of watch television or whatever it is that "normal" children do.