Has the Internet Killed Good Writing?

[David Baxter PhD]

Has the Internet Killed Good Writing?
By Jill Whalen
September 9, 2007

I received a hard copy, glossy Internet magazine in the mail this week. As I was flipping through it, I recognized many of the writers? names from articles I?ve seen in various places online. I stopped at one that was about SEO, and attempted to read it, but found it to be so poorly written, that I couldn?t get through it.

I?m used to most online SEO articles being very hard to read because they?re not written by professional writers. But, for some crazy reason, I was astonished to see the same poor quality writing from an actual magazine! I would certainly expect a glossy magazine to have some sort of editing process before they publish any articles, but apparently they don?t.

I?m not even talking about the content of the articles being poor. The content may or may not have been good ? I?ll never know, because I couldn?t read them!

Has the Internet by its very nature of allowing anyone and everyone to become a ?writer? killed good writing?

I?m starting to wonder.

 

[Banned]

This is something I've long known. The quality of written material that comes across my desk and through my email from the younger generation is appalling. I recently received a resume from a candidate with a university education. Only one and a half pages in length, it contained 46 spelling and grammar errors that I, with only a high school education, was able to spot instantly.

 

[Bones]

I recently received a resume from a candidate with a university education. Only one and a half pages in length, it contained 46 spelling and grammar errors that I, with only a high school education, was able to spot instantly.

I would think that the younger generation would indeed have decreased writing ability due to the Internet, but wow thats just bad.
You would think that they could have at least used a spell checker.

 

[Meg]

I think text messaging on phones is also responsible (and not just in the younger generation!). I got an email the other day that had no punctuation at all and was full of grammatical errors. I guess when you're used to saying as much as possible with as few characters as possible it tends to generalise somewhat.

 

[David Baxter PhD]

Aaargh! Yes! I despise "textspeak". It's one thing on a cell phine but in many forums it has morphed over into an excuse for how people type a post as well. Add that to lousy spelling and grammar and you get crap like:

"u r rite", ", i dont wanna loose this", "i c what u mean" :rant:

 

[Meg]

:lol: yes.

 

[Retired]

There is no dowt that setnence construction, gramar and speeling skills have been lost by many who communicate using the internet.

 

[sister-ray]

I use to be good at writing and xcellent speller and since Ive been on internet its all gone, I even find myself using text and internet abbreviations in serious letters, and I forget capitals and full stops, it does make you lazy having spell checkers, you dont look words up and learn anymore the computer just puts them right for you.

 

[ladylore]

Well, I know my grammer isn't the best and sometimes my spelling slips. But I do try to write emails and post as if I was writing a letter. I think that some people do realize the impact they have on other people, because they are not right there in front of them. If they spoke the way they write in a job interview chances are they wouldn't get the job.

Ladylore

 

[ThatLady]

I agree with BG. This has been going on for a loooong time. I can think back to things I saw on television over twenty years ago and recognize the demise of the English language. One example that comes to mind was a newswoman on CNN announcing to the world that the US Congress was "hurling epitaphs". I nearly died with laughter. All I could do was picture tombstones sailing around.

Another example was on CBS News when the newsman announced that Van Cleef and Arpels had been robbed ... only, he pronounced it Van Cleef and "Arples". Again, I lost it to laughter.

The funniest one I heard, however, was on a local radio station in Hendersonville, North Carolina. There was to be a drawing for a real diamond. One diamond was to be placed amongst many phony stones in a brandy snifter. Someone would be the lucky winner of the real diamond. The announcer must have said brandy "sniffer" at least twenty times. I had to pull the car over to the side of the road because I was laughing so hard I couldn't see to drive!

Yep. The English language is dead, folks.