My younger siblings habitual use of SMS, online chat and wall postings stand as testimony that the Internet / technological advancement is making us dumb. I cringe as I see many grammatical mistakes and a plethora of acronyms which---I am told---are actually the way in which they communicate with friends. I learned about "fml" most recently---it seemed to be a mainstay on my sister's facebook wall. When I prompted her to explain"fml," I was shocked---but then again we had used wtf for ages...so I guess it wasn't all that different. By the real grammatical mishaps which drive me "str8" over the edge are the following: cuz; how r u?; y?; 2nite...the list goes on and on. The tendency to write in this evolving "abridged" format is making us dumb. I honestly do not want to read my siblings' school paper submission---yikes---fortunately for them, there is SpellCheck!
The Internet has shortcircuited the traditional path of conducting "scholarly" research. I can hear choruses of "Thank goodness for Google Scholar" as I am writing this. Recently, when one of my peers brought his research to the table for a group project, I was perplexed. At the graduate level, did he really think that Wikipedia was an acceptable source?!? The truth is that he honestly did not detect the harm in it.
I remember my former research days, in 2nd grade, my parents had purchased the entire Encyclopedia Britannica set from our local Stop 'n Shop grocer----remember back in the day when grocery stores sold encyclopedias? At any rate, I remeber coping text from the encyclopedia for my school reports. Given today's context, I would have to equate my 2nd grade research undertaking to the use to the Wikipedia for research.
Lessons learned:
- Don't email a thank you post-interview. Invest in a $5 box of thank you cards and hand write one---it makes an impression; trust me!
- Stop using Wikipedia as a reference source for research. There is a library out there --- explore its offerings! Chances are your tuition dollars or tax dollars support it!
- Crack down on grammatical impropriety!
While Wikipedia should not be cited as a source for academic papers, it can still be a very useful research tool. It's a great way to find a great number of legitimate sources all in one place.
ReplyDeleteI also tend to be less concerned about offending the gods of grammar.
So long as people understand each other I'm not sure I have a problem. But I could be convinced. Perhaps it's something we could discuss in class.
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ReplyDeleteI don't know who this anonymous writer is - but my friend Heather is a fantastic writer!! I agree with you Heather - that in today's day and age kids aren't writing in proper English. They are writing as though they are speaking. My dad always drilled that in head - do not write like you speak! Which is so true. When I was younger - my mom always had me writing hand-written thank you notes - that I sometimes would have to re-write several times. To this day, I will always write a hand written thank you!
ReplyDeleteHi Heather, speaking about Encyclopedia Britannica brought back some childhood memories. My father bought the whole set when we weere little in school so we can use if for our research papers. When war broke back home and we had to leave our house, it was the one thing he packed to take with him. He always loved that collection and knew how valuable it was. Not sure if he would do the same thing now after all these years.
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