McQuaig 1

Julia McQuaig
ENC 1101
Mrs. McGriff
28 November 2016
The Invasion of Electronic Communication
Technological communication reaches every corner of the modern world, consuming the
population with texting and social media. Suddenly conversations are abbreviated with the use of
texting words and phrases. Face to face interactions have decreased and most confrontations
occur electronically. Although texting and social media may seem like a natural progression of
language and creativity, digital communication has actually damaged peoples aptitude for social
interaction, grammar usage, and intelligent reasoning.
Social interactions both online and in person have declined as a result of texting and
social media. Digital communication inhibits a persons ability to listen to others in a
conversation. According to Gerald Graff in Is Digital Communication Good or Bador Both?
he states, Critics, on the other hand, question the quality of the conversations that take place
online, arguing that these conversations are rarely, genuine meetings of the minds and noting that
online writers often speak past rather than to or with one another (169). This claim supports the
idea that in many social interactions people ready their next response before truly listening to the
other person. Conversations lack the understanding they had before immediate, unchecked
responses became the norm. Graff states in reference to online communication that other
peoples views are ignored in online conversation while long, typed monologues are more
prevalent (170). Students online will find that their points in an argument are ignored by other
commenters. Instead, crude language and long monologues are utilized rather than the
acknowledgement of another persons point of view.

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In addition, intelligent grammar usage has promptly declined because of social media and
texting. While grammar used to be of the utmost importance to writers, it has become
abbreviated and unimportant to those living in the age of digital communication. In Ray
Williamss article FOCROFLOL: Is Texting Damaging Our Language Skills? he supports this
idea by including the work of Drew Cingle and S. Shyam Sundar who refer to the abbreviation of
text-speak by stating that shortcuts used while texting makes it harder to switch between
techspeak and the normal rules of grammar (qtd. in Williams, 8-10). When a person texts, they
often use abbreviations such as ur and LOL. These seemingly harmless grammar constructs
often leak into writing. In defense of the new abbreviations a language professional, Carole
Adger, is quoted in Williamss article as saying, innovating with language isnt dangerous (qtd.
in Williams, 33). However, experts such as Joan Lee disagree according to Williams because of
her statements quoted in Williamss article about the way that print media offers more variation
and creativity than technological communications such as texting (qtd. in Williams, 22-24).
This clearly contradicts the idea that texting has been beneficial to students in grammar. It has
actually been detrimental to their writing and creativity.
As a result of digital communication, intelligent reasoning has diminished. Gerald Graff
states in his article that So much comes at us so fast from our electronic sources that we can no
longer think straight or organize our thoughts into clear writing (168). Oftentimes when
searching for websites, online articles, or other online information students pick the first
available source. They lack the intelligent ability to decide which source is most appropriate.
Some experts disagree such as David Crystal in 2b or Not 2b who states, In one American
study, less than 20% of the text messages looked at showed abbreviations of any kind. . . (901).
He determined that abbreviations were not even considered common among most texters. While

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this evidence is important to recognize, the percentage is only from one study. Oftentimes texters
lack the ability to realize when their abbreviations are uncalled for.
Digital communication is a controversial topic that has unarguably provoked changes
over the years. Texting has replaced face to face interaction and actual phone calls. Language has
become flexible and abbreviated in texts. It is the opinion of this writer that digital
communication has damaged peoples aptitude for social interaction, grammar usage, and
intelligent reasoning. If the world isnt careful, social skills could be virtually lost in the years to
come. W.C. 677

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Works Cited
Crystal, David. 2b or Not 2b? Everyones An Author with Readings. Eds. Marilyn Moller,
Tenyia Lee, and Claire Wallace. Vol. 2. New York: Norton, 2017. 899-907. Print.
Graff, Gerald and Cathy Birkenstein. IMHO Is Digital Communication Good or Bador
Both? They Say I Say. New York: Norton, 2014. Print.
Williams, Ray. FOCROFLOL: Is Texting Damaging Our Language Skills? Psychology Today.
28 July 2012. Web. 26 Oct. 2016.