Writing Skills in Decline

Yesterday my wife and I visited with a friend who is a school teacher. During the course of the conversation the teacher mentioned that cursive or handwriting is in decline because kids are using keyboards on computers instead of handwriting for school reports. My wife then volunteered that spelling is also going downhill because of all the texting short-cuts being used. That got me thinking as to how technology is changing the way we communicate and trying to decide if it is good or bad.

I can't say that I am sad to see cursive being de-emphasized. I prefer printing to handwriting and was glad to finally get to a level in school that allowed me to start typing papers. I have had access to a computer with word processing software since before high school. So I took a typing class as soon as one was offered in middle school. It didn't take long before I could type faster than I could write. Most of my high school homework was typed. The only problem with handwriting being a dying skill is that it is tough to take notes. Whether you are in a school class or participating in a meeting at work, note taking is an important skill and cursive is much quicker than printing.

Texting is a different story. Personally I can't wait for the texting fad to die. I can agree that it does have a use as a communications tool but should be used in moderation. Unfortunately it is replacing supperior methods of communcation and that is bad for society.

I am so against texting that I have had it removed from all our cell phones except mine where I have 200 free text messages per month. If I could split those 200 messages with my wife and kids' phones I would. However I get them because of the type of phone I have and so I don't have that option. I just checked my bill and I have a total of 3 incoming and outgoing messages last month. That is all anybody should have for a given month.

My oldest daughter, who is in college, was glad to get off the family plan so she could start sending and receiving text messages. The catch is that she has to pay for her own phone. She had over 1000 text messages her first month. I asked her why she had so many. She said that it was all related to coordinating time with friends. In other words she spent 1000 text messages trying to get a groups of people together. I suggested that she might want to use the "phone" part of her cell phone and just give people a call. That would cut down on the number of text messages by a factor of 10. Furthermore she could use the conference call feature to get everyone on the line at the same time. That would make the coordination of different schedules infinitely easier.

I'm not sure my daughter is completely on-board with my idea that texting has gotten out of hand. However she did mention a conversation she had with several friends at school that echoed my pick-up-the-phone-and-call sentiments. I'm hoping they are not idle words meant to please Dad.

People talk about how great texting is because it allows them to do multiple things at the same time. Unfortunately this is a hollow excuse that is not really accurate. Trying to use that little phone keyboard to crank out a short message requires all of the person's attention. If he or she is in a meeting where important information is being given, that information needs to be repeated, wasting everyone else's time. If the person is driving a car, anyone withing a quarter mile is in danger of being in a serious accident. I once had to fire a high-priced consultant because he spent 50 minutes of our hour together reading or sending text messages. If my company is paying somone for an hour's worth of work, there better be an hour's work completed.

So when is a text message a valid form of communication? When all other forms are ineffective. I once had a close friend congratulate me via text message after my college football team handily beat his. He was at the game and the stadium was so noisy he wouldn't have been able to hear me if we were talking on the phone. Sure he could have waited until he got home to give me a call but if technology can help us communicate that much quicker, shouldn't we use it? Let's just not overuse it.