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Caitlyn Coville
ENC 1101
Prof. McGriff
10/27/16

Declining Communication Skills

LOL! C U L8TER! TTYL! Many people believe that these acronyms and many others
are butchering the English language. Nevertheless, I think that it is furthering the language and
using it more efficiently. Online Communication began around the 1980s but it really started up
all around the world in the mid-90s. Sadly, according to Lunsford, et al, people have been
arguing that new technology would have disastrous consequences for the [English] language
(899). Various critics and ordinary people believe that texting and the use of slang is
disrespecting the language while opposing sides believe that we are actually expanding American
Literature by creating new words. There are many controversies whether or not electronic
communications ae declining our communication skills by limiting our thought process, ruining
face-to-face interaction and even going as far as saying we are damaging the English Language.
First, critics and even some parents believe that all people who rely on technology are
lazy and ruining their thought process. Critics believe that the very volume of new information
that the web makes so easily available overwhelms us and prevents us from thinking clearly
(Graff and Birkenstein 168), meaning we are overwhelmed by information that we dont know
how to think on our own terms. If anything though, I believe that technology has brought us to be
able to write/think more profusely. We have technology at hand where we can get more in depth
with our papers, our language, and our mind. Teenagers are known to be lazy because we often

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lack motivation. Before technology, in order to get all the information that was needed to write
papers, people had to search through libraries or even interview specialists which took much
time out of writing a decent paper. Now-a-days, we have the information we can access at home
or school or anywhere in the world with one click of the mouse. Being able to do that exposes
us to a wide range of new perspectives and giving us instant access to massive stores of new
information (Graff and Birkenstein 168) and makes us even more interested in the subject that
we are writing/speaking about. What Graff and Birkenstein mean with that quote is that we now
have so much more information at hand that with one click, internet gives us more confidence in
being able to write or talk about our subjects because we have multiple perspectives.
Additionally, critics questions the quality of the conversations that take place online
arguing these conversations are rarely genuine meetings of minds (Graff and Birkenstein 169).
Critics think that people who rely on communicating online dont review what they send the
other person, not caring if they sound smart or dumb. They believe that, people who
communicate online arent caring about the quality of their conversations because they dont
seem to care about typos and arent scared about hurting the other persons feelings because they
are behind another screen. I, on the other hand, believe that we project more confidence when
communicating online. We cant see if the other person is laughing at us, or angry, we can be
who we want to be on the internet. People who use the internet, meet people from all around the
world. The internet has made it possible for us to communicate with the world through camera,
video chats, open chat-rooms, social media, blogs, and news websites. If we didnt have this
access, we would remain strangers to residents all around the world. On the internet, we can get
fast responses to what we post including compliments or you can even get into interesting

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controversial topics with friends and strangers where you can get multiple perspectives and
responses.
Furthermore, and most controversial topic, critics believe we are damaging the English
language with slang and not complete sentences. Many believe that our texts, or posts online are
incomprehensible and they dont have any idea what we are saying. Ms. Joan Lee at the
University of Calgary conducted a study on students and her results were that the students who
texted more, were less open to new vocabulary (FOCROFLOL: Is Texting Damaging Our
English Language) in retrospect to those read more who were more open to expanding their
vocabulary. Critics also say that when we think we are getting smarter, we actually are getting
dumber and horrible writers. On the other hand, I think that we are more self-assured with our
writing by being able to just jump on the internet to find spelling and synonyms. We have
different ways we talk to different people and know when to put them in place. For example,
when you are writing a paper you use complete sentences with no slang, acronyms, or foul
language. However, when you write you friend, you dont need complete sentences and you can
say whatever you want to them, for example yo, wassup, lol, yea, coo, etc. We use the English
language more efficiently and it is fun to be able to play around with different words.
Nonetheless, the modern world wasnt the first to create short acronyms to speedup up the
communication process though! David Crystal says that People have been initializing common
phrases for ages. IOU is known from 1618. There is no difference (902).
Finally, communicating online has helped the world and its languages progress. We add
new words to the dictionary a lot more these days and thats due to us creating these words.
Critics seem very close-minded about all the possibilities that communicating online brings us.
We can get multiple opinions in seconds and launch into great conversation topics with people all

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around the world. So continue using slang and acronyms and dont be afraid to befriend new
people on the internet (but do be cautious). One may never know what new interesting things
you can learn from the web.

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MLA Citations
Crystal, David. 2b or Not 2b Everyones An Author: With Readings. New York: W.W.
Norton and Company, 2017. Print.
Graff, Gerald, and Cathy Birkenstein. IMHO: Is Digital Communication Good or
BadOr both? They Say/ I Say: The Moves that Matter in Academic Writing .
New York: W.W. Norton, 2014. Print.
Williams, Ray. FOCROFLOL: Is Texting Damaging our Language Skills? Psychology Today,
28 July 2012. Web. 25 October 2016.