The Loss of Literacy in Modern America

[Ame Yuki Kaze]

What has prompted the loss of literacy in modern America? Is it the mass media, laziness, ineptitude, stupidity? Are generation after generation of people indeed becoming stupider than their ancestors through the passing on of defective genes? Is television to blame for luring children to its blue glare and away from books? Will the average American even be able to read above a sixth grade level in 30 years?

Thoughts, opinions?

Note: In the poll, I do leave out the apostrophe. I have to because the poll won't go through with apostrophes in the answers. Thanks for another brilliant glitch, Gaia!  

[Ame Yuki Kaze]

I forgot the right bracket in the poll question. I can't edit it, or I'll lose the poll. Here's the right bracket: ).  

[DarkElf27]

I think its mostly because they (we) dont need to know much to make a living. They dont need to learn how to spell, so they dont. The only real solution I see is to make job requirements soar, but I dont see that happening anytime soon...  

[Ame Yuki Kaze]

It seems to me that job requirements are already quite stiff. Even a carpentry place takes those with a college degree over those with only a high school diploma. What the hell for? Why does one need a college degree to learn how to work with wood and tools?!

I myself tend to blame peer validation. Parents set their young child in front of a computer. The young child inevitably meets up with other young children, or older teenagers online. Thanks to the shitty public school systems, many kids can't spell worth s**t nowadays. Therefore these younger children are exposed to the stupidity and illiteracy of the older ones.

Or you might have a teen who's a very accurate speller but who wants to fit in when he chats online or on message boards, so he purposely uses "txt tlk" when he chats. I was guilty of this myself. I felt like everyone else was doing it, so why shouldn't I do it to fit in? I only stopped when I realized that I was making an a** of myself.

Well, that's my take on it.  

[DarkElf27]

Hmm. Personally, I believe that it's due to the fact that people don't really need an education to get along in this society, so they don't bother.  

[Hoxtalicious]

I blame it on the internet and laziness. If one starts, then more follow. What I dread even more is that people reply to messages in the god awful MSN lingo (much like txt tlk) of broken, misspelled words. MSN or other text based messenger sevices I can understand (and block) but to reply on message boards with such crap is just uncalled for. I know that people want a quick reply with MSN so they use that, but we have more then enough time on a message board to type up a good reply.

Also, the internet makes you stupid. Simple enough. And to think that it does not shame the "illiterate" that people outside their country master their grammar better then they themselves.

My two cents  

[Ame Yuki Kaze]

Yes and when people use the MSN talk in chats where there are those from other countries present, it makes Americans look like lazy, illiterate fools. How is someone from Germany who only has English as probably a second language supposed to know what "lol wz ^ d00dz" means? talk2hand  

[Hoxtalicious]

Internet slang reaches far, you'd be surprised at how it's integrated into other countries their languages and even fashion. (Who can't remember the Japanese shirts with the kanti on it proclaiming the wearer to be a *****?) Dreadful words such as "lol" "lmao" and "rotf" are wide spread known.

Still, I am having a hard time not to lash out against others about their poor spelling or lack of constructing their reply into something easy to read for the eyes, with the use of periods, commas and paragraphing it into sections. Still, I am all to aware that many around here do not have English as their first or second language.  

[-M- Mellolicious]

Lt_Brookman

I blame it on the internet and laziness. If one starts, then more follow. What I dread even more is that people reply to messages in the god awful MSN lingo (much like txt tlk) of broken, misspelled words. MSN or other text based messenger sevices I can understand (and block) but to reply on message boards with such crap is just uncalled for. I know that people want a quick reply with MSN so they use that, but we have more then enough time on a message board to type up a good reply.

Also, the internet makes you stupid. Simple enough. And to think that it does not shame the "illiterate" that people outside their country master their grammar better then they themselves.

My two cents

I don't see how some people can put up with others using netspeak on messengers. Sure, they can reply quickly if they use it, then again, they could always just learn to type faster.
And, like that saying, "For every .3 seconds you save by not typing a "Y" or an "O," I waste 3 minutes trying to decipher your message."  

[Ame Yuki Kaze]

Exactly. If people want to get their messages posted faster, they should learn to touch type. I have no need for the use of "txt tlk" because I can type at about 70 WPM with good accuracy. Even when I text chat on my cell, I refuse to use "txt tlk", though I'll admit I do leave out apostrophes because on my phone, I have to scroll through a menu to use them. xp  

[-M- Mellolicious]

xD
How do you find out how fast you type? >.>  

[DarkElf27]

You just type as fast as you can, literately for about ten minutes, total it up, and devide by ten, and thats your average. Myself, I can hit 150 WPM with fairly good literacy, and usually go back through it once to remove stray typo's and add apostraphe's.  

[Ame Yuki Kaze]

One-hundred-fifty words per minute? Wow. The highest I ever got was 100 or so. I learned my speed because I took computer classes in junior and senior year. We took tests and found out. I really enjoyed the keyboarding. In fact, that's how I got into computers. I enjoyed the exploratory typing class I was taking in ninth grade. They switched from typewriters to computers and I was just enthralled by them. The rest, as they say, is history.  

[DarkElf27]

*Laughs.* Yeah, I've been on gaia for a year and a half, that helped raise my typing speed considerably. And my junior and senior year.... Hell, I'd be looking towards the future; I'm a sophomore. sweatdrop Try not to judge me by age, though.  

[Ame Yuki Kaze]

Not at all. I judge by behavior, not age. Ageism goes against my beliefs.