I feel the "txting will destroy writing debate" is a bit overblown. First, txting is improving literacy: teenagers today read more today than any generation before them. Also, less than 10% of any words in a txt message are abbreviated. Thirdly, it's a myth that teenagers are using txt language in their homework: of course, some do, but the vast majority know that txt language is a very informal register.
http://david-crystal.blogspot.hk/2008/08/on-txtng-reactions.html
Is it possible that the alternative spellings of txting will seep into standard English? It's definitely possible, but this isn't a tragedy, it's just change. And it most certainly doesn't signal the end to writing. Just look at the first few lines of The Canterbury Tales. Written in the late 14th century, it's arguably the most important work of literature in the English language. Most of the words below are the same as in modern English, but were spelt so differently the text is very difficult to follow:
Whan that Aprill, with his shoures soote
The droghte of March hath perced to the roote
And bathed every veyne in swich licour,
Of which vertu engendred is the flour;
How did you go? Here are few: Whan (when), Aprill (April), shoures (showers), etc. Visit the link below for the full prologue of the book, in both Middle English and Modern English.
I think we can't replace high-tech with the writing. There are situations that you have to communicate by papers. any kinds, even emails or monthly bills. The letters still exists, I think, but it's among elderly. It's not effective for working and communicating widely though.For young people, they use the phone since the age of teenage, so It is cool for them to text and use their own languages. Besides, they have schooling that the phone is sometimes in parent's control. They can't write abbrev in homework. Moreover, they are encouraged to read and young people starts to dip into books. I think the letters are disappearing is overblown
First of all, thanks a lot for Dan Smith's for sharing your ideas. It is definitely a fabulous debate!
I actually have questions about what exactly "traditional skill of writing letters" it has? Originally, I thought it is just handwriting only, because "fewer people are writing letters". After reading your opinions, texting, typing, are written forms of communication, and then you could start a long discussion with this topic. It really refreshed me a lot. Brilliant!
But texting and typing are traditional skills? Personally, it is more likely belong to mobile and computers. Hence, my idea of debating as below:
The pros of email by phones and computers is faster, much more convenient, more efficient as people could make contact with anyone anywhere any time, as long as there is signal and battery. It costs less as well to compare with sending a letter by post.
However, not all people are fond of screen letters, for instance, majority of old generation people prefer to read paper words more than screen. So it will not vanish completely.
Meanwhile, writing a letter by hand could make readers feel it is much more sincerely, it may bring more warm and comfort for readers, hand-written letter is less and less nowadays, so it always be treated as treasure to be saved or displayed in somewhere for some families.
On the other hand, handwriting could be treated as a kind of Art heritage in China, it should be encouraged to permeate, it will not disappear completely.
In my own prospective, I use to very happy to receive and hand-written letter from friends, even just a short note written on a card or just a signature on a photo. Furthermore, as a stamp collection fan, it is always great to receive stamps from all over the world. As we know, stamp is a good way to diffuse cultures of a place. .
I wonder this myself. I think it is interesting that young people continue to text. Let us not forget, texting is, absolutely, a written form of communication. Why does it persist? It uses less bandwidth, it works when cell signals aren't as good, it costs less. Those reasons will probably vanish as technology improves. But it has other characteristics. For example, you can send and read texts during a meeting without making noise. That might not be a good thing, but it is a reason for continuing to use written communication.
Another reason is that reading and writing are, in many ways, superior to listening and speaking for the communication of detailed or complicated or abstract ideas. A book is not really linear. You can jump around in it, you can effortlessly reread a sentence, you can can for subheadings. Without getting into a debate about whether speed reading works (I don't think it does), people speak at 100-150 words a minute, but read at 200-400 words per minute. When we write, we take our time and write carefully, reviewing what we've written, correcting errors, and rewriting; it is very hard to speak a pages' worth of clear, well-"written," articulate English unless we've rehearsed it and half-memorized it!
At the moment, AI and computer speech recognition are not up to the task of searching spoken English. Google and other search engines rely on the written word. To find something on YouTube, I have to hope that the written titles and descriptions contain what I want. YouTube won't find me a spoken phrase from inside a video unless someone thought it was important enough to put it in the title or the description.
Even on Facebook, the typical posting contains a certain amount of text, even if it is just describing a photo or a video--and the text is written. People don't post a voice recording saying "My grandson did the cutest thing at the beach last weekend," they write the words.
