There was a story on the news the other night about an educator down in Florida who felt that cursive handwriting had outlived it's usefulness and so they were no longer going to teach it in that school given kids need to learn to type and text more. Thank heaven saner minds prevailed and cursive continues to be taught, but it got me thinking to the type of communication we have today. Sure, it's faster. But is it better?
Case in point. Most electronic devices today have an "auto finisher" option that will finish typing a word for you, saving you time. But when that auto finisher inserts the wrong word, the resultant message, while oftentimes funny, totally misses the point and causes the receiver to furrow their brow in bewilderment wondering just what the original message was supposed to be.
Or how about all the acronyms and just plain parts of words that are to save again on having to type it all- but that may be lost to the end user. I get there there may only be 160 characters to say all that you've got to say, but really! When you get a message like, "R U F2T?" (are you free to talk for those of you text challenged out there) my response is always a resounding "Yes" for at least by talking, I won't have to think so hard about what the sender is really trying to say.
Now that's not to say I don't enjoy the brevity of today's communication, but is is a bit of a misnomer to think we are communicating with those right in front of us. Now instead of going out to catch up with friends- we still get together, but invariably are all on the phone texting others rather than connecting with those around us. Look around. If you are in a public place, I'll bet that most people around you are not looking at the world around them, but at the world, their world, that exists is that small phone device in their hand.
I wonder what face to face communication will look like in the future? Will the term "John Hancock" at some point really only refer to the man and not the signature that many people reference when people say, "we need your John Hancock on this". Will cursive writing really go the way of the buggy whip? And are we ready to let machines finish our communication for us, guessing on the word that we may want to use just because we have used it so many times before?
For this writer, I hope the answers to all of these questions are no. While I love the convenience and brevity of today's communication, I love more the English language and the vast array of words that are available to us. Sure, some of the words have more letters that you may want to use in a text, some words will never come up in an "auto finish" option, and some things just can't be said with an acronym. But some thoughts are more important, more necessary than simple words warrant. And that's the beauty of the written word, and ALL the letters they contain.
