Living in an electronic world

By: Michelle Anstett
Editor-in-chief

The art of writing is dying, my friends.

No one writes letters anymore. Our communication has been reduced to a series of quick-fix, instant-gratification e-mails where grammar and proper rules of English fly out the window. What’s made things worse is the even more fast-paced world of instant and text messaging.

In order to conserve space and time, things have been “conveniently” abbreviated, such as “ur” instead of “your” or “l8r” for “later.” While this is all well and good in the contexts of instant and text messaging, these abbreviations have migrated into e-mails, and even academic papers.

I cannot count the number of e-mails I receive on a regular basis, from people who should know better, containing these appalling abbreviations. Beyond the fact that it shows a person’s complete ignorance in the proper use of the English language, it is also incredibly distracting when attempting to read an e-mail. Deciphering the foreshortenings of words often makes reading an e-mail take longer than it would if the person would simply take the extra few seconds to write out a word.

Of course, what’s even more disturbing than the fact that this language has moved into the world of e-mails is that it has migrated into the academic writing of students. I hear stories all the time of people who spell “through” as “thru” consistently in the writing they do for a class. Students also perpetually use the Roman numerals in place of writing out numbers, even for such small digits as “one” or “two.”

Not only has the language within the electronic age changed the face of communication, but certain modes of communication are nearly obsolete.

Letter-writing, perhaps the most wonderful, personal means of connecting with a person far away, is no longer utilized by most people. No longer can a loved one walk out to the mailbox, open it and experience the tactile joy of opening a letter in the other person’s handwriting, written just for her. There is something so intensely intimate about knowing a person took time out of his day, sat down and wrote a letter just for you.

Now, a person can sit down at a computer while doing any number of things and quickly pound out a short synopsis of his day, not necessarily having to spend any amount of time or effort in the act of communication. Human interaction has been reduced to a series of clicks and taps on a keyboard.

Sadly, as human beings find more and more ways to connect electronically, the future of written letters and the correct use of the English language is going by the wayside.