Response to: Clive Thompson on the New Literacy.



In wired magazine dated august 24, 2009 Clive Thompson writes of the literacy of today’s youth. In his article he cites that many people feel writing today has degraded to short, un-intellectual, gibberish; due in part to texting, facebook, twitter updates, and in technology all together.
Andrea Lunsford of Stanford University questions that logic. She argues that technology is actually reviving our generation’s ability to write, and it’s supported in new research that she’s conducted. She used over 14,000 student writing samples including assignments and essays from in class; to emails, blog posts and chat sessions. What she found is that this generation is actually writing more that any before it. Not only that but young people today are letting their voices be heard through the use of this technology.
I myself can identify with these kinds of writing. I know that blogging and comment boards are a big part of my life. These are forms of writing that can actually get me excited. Arguing with people in chat rooms on if “Pete Carroll will be a good coach for the Seahawks”, or leaving reviews on sites for video games. To me these are all forms of writing that invoke passion in both reader and writer. Undertaking this kind of writing permits you to learn to adapt your voice to the audience your conveying your message to. ‘To best get your point across’ as Thompson states in his article. Thompson acknowledges that when his generation did do any writing that it was almost never directed or received by an audience, as I believe I have stated, that this current generation can.
Thompson also details in his opening that the literati are once again grumbling about how youth can’t write and that it’s technology’s fault. To that I object. Technology is what helps me write today, between applications that allow you to have a dictionary on your phone to online encyclopedias. Young people have every avenue possible to be great writers today. We have applications that spell check our every word, we have but to click a button to get lists of adjectives to better find our voices. I believe that because of these for-mentioned innovations we can write as we do today. All thanks to technology.
But that said, I contend that there needs to be balance. More than once while writing this summary I caught myself about to write in that “dehydrated language’ that texting has brought about. It usually happens when in a hurry to write something down. I realize that this generation has a great array of channels through the use of technology to make their voices heard, but I implore this generation to not be limited by technology I still believe that the best way of stating or debating or ideas is in real conversation and face to face contact. Sometimes the best way to learn to voice our ideology is to get out and live life in the real.