First of all, I would like to say how impressed I am with all the information/articles/blogs that have been provided on this subject (of Facebook, Twitter, Blogging, etc.). Until now, I somehow thought that all of this was just taken in stride by the world, and that no one really thought about it much, or at least not enough to write full articles and have discussions and debates over it. Anyway, I was really intrigued by the blog post, "We Are All Writers Now." Actually, "intrigued" is not the right word; confused is more how I am feeling. In explanation, I have been so against all of this hype with Facebook and Twitter and so forth. This is probably due to the fact that the majority of posts and status updates that I read are in text talk or at least leave out any kind of punctuation and abandons the need for correct spelling. This not only annoys me because I am an English major, posts can be hard to understand without any kind of grammar or spelling rules in tact.
Back to the article, though, I really thought that Trubek made a good point. She brings up the point that "with more than 200 m people on Facebook and even more with home internet access, we are all writing more than we would have ten years ago." I had not really considered this fact; I was blinded by the details (the terrible lack of grammar and spelling skills). She is absolutely right. When I stop and think about how much I write, aside from everything required of me as an English major, it is quite a bit. If I cut out all the emails, status updates and online posts, the amount of writing I do in a day would be very minimal, indeed. I, too, am a writer now. :)
Trubek also points out that Facebook sometimes provides good exercises for writers, such as the "25 Things About Me" stint that was apparently popular a while ago. Other than, yet again, an English class, I can't think of any other time I have taken part in such an exercise. So while I am not admitting yet that I fully embrace this idea, I have finally begun to see how it could be useful (Mr. Schirmer, you can pat yourself on the back).
However, I still think that if people continue to use text talk to post online or for their status updates or in text messages, we will have some serious problems on our hands. As I mentioned previously, it can be really confusing to read a post that is completely devoid of grammar rules. Just remember, those rules were established for reasons!
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I would have to agree with you on the fact that when people are using "text speak" to update and when writing on the internet it is not improving their writing skills at all really. But, the point that was made last Thursday was that on Twitter you are able to shorten your words into "text speak" so that you have more room to write if you need to. I think that this is something that should not become habit at all though and that people do need to remember proper grammar even when writing on the internet.
ReplyDeleteI completely agree with the face that you can't stand bad grammar. I am exactly the same way, but not when it comes to text talk. Although I dislike it, severely, I have been able to accept it. What I really can't stand is when I see a post and things are just "thrown down" and everything is spelled wrong because people don't take the time to punctuate and spell. Take the time to EDIT!!!
ReplyDeleteSo, how soon should we be expecting an article entitled "We Are All Editors Now?" This is a serious question as I think what you make known in your post is important, that we have certain rules of writing for a reason (i.e., so we can communicate effectively and understand one another). Of course, being an online editor can/should involve more than just picking out grammar mistakes, right?
ReplyDeleteYes, Mr. Schirmer, you are absolutely right. Being an online editor definitely should involve more than just picking out grammar mistakes(such as content, whether or not people are actually making the point they are tryint to make, are they contradicting themselves, does their argument consider all sides, etc). I am not a grammar cop! I am just saying that we have grammar and spelling rules for a reason, and that is, so that we can communicate and understand each other. As for those people whose counterargument to this statement was, "Well, what if some people don't understand your proper grammar?" I think they should take this into serious consideration when they become English teachers! The problem here is education. And to answer your initial question, I just might be putting up an article talking about everyone's individual roles as editors.
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