Clive Thompson's "New Literacy"

This article "On the New Literacy" by Clive Thompson conveys the different opinions of college professors on writing of the youth today and technology. Clive Thompson starts out with a comment by a professor John Sutherland saying that texting and face book have brought down the quality of writing by making it "bleak, bald, and sad shorthand.

Clive Thompson then brings in professor Andrea Lunsford to fight for technology and writing. Professor Lunsford claims that "we're in the midst of a literacy revolution." Clive goes on to tell how Lunsford has found that people today write more then ever before. From a Stanford study of hers statistics show that 38 percent of all student writing took place out of the classroom. Clive found that Lunsford's team found that students were very good at writing to an audience. Clive claims that this writing to an audience "gives them different sense of what constitutes good writing." Clive explains that though this technology is good for writing, there is no substitute for good teaching. Clive Thompson concludes that it is better to know who your writing for and why.

In my opinion I agree that technology has helped and that people are writing more then before. In day to day life the youth of today probably spend more time writing to each other then talking, with texting, instant messaging, and the like. I'm just wondering if one day some professor is going to claim that with all this writing going on that the youth have forgotten how talk and carry on a conversation.