Some people think that increasing communication usage of computers and mobile phones by young people has had a negative effect on their reading and writing skills. To what extent do you agree or disagree?
ESSAY #47 FROM OUR BOOK
It is believed by some that both writing and reading skills have suffered a setback, due to computers and smartphones. While this modern communication technology has led to a deterioration of reading and writing skills, I believe that if used judiciously these effects can be reversed.
To begin with, modern day technology has an overall negative effect on students’ writing skills because it encourages cyber slang, which involves using shortcuts, alternative words, or even symbols in an electronic document. When children start using abbreviations, such as ‘lol’, ‘C U L8R’ and ‘bcoz’ in academic writing, they start forgetting the actual words and their spellings. Moreover, the autocorrect feature fixes their mistakes, so they do not even realize that they have written something wrong. Students find it difficult to get rid of these habits.
Similarly, the influence of electronic media on the reading habits of pupils has become an issue of concern. Students now spend more hours browsing the net, playing games on their handsets and writing non-stop SMS’s to their contacts. Students are rarely interested in reading for pleasure and enjoyment, and instead they read only to pass examination. Lack of reading culture among our youth nowadays, has greatly affected the quality of graduates being produced.
I believe these gadgets have come to stay and their negative effects on their reading and writing skills can be revoked with their sensible usage. For example, the kindle has aroused the interest of many youngsters to read. I personally own a kindle, and ever since I started using it, I have started reading more. I carry it with me always and I snatch time to read a few pages of any book I have downloaded in it.
To sum up, I reiterate that the communication technology of today is definitely hampering the reading and writing skills. The onus is on the parents and teachers to teach children the right ways to use this technology, so that its negative effects are minimized.
