Is Technology Always Beneficial?
Liisa Steinwedel
6094157
Professor Langston
ENG 1100 PP
4 November, 2010
Is Technology Always Beneficial? Thinking back to my grade ten English class, I cannot help but remember the time my teacher read my friend’s essay aloud. The whole essay sounded great, it had a strong argument and used exemplary grammar, until I heard the word ‘LOL’. The entire room burst out laughing, knowing perfectly well that using informal slang in a formal essay is inappropriate. What does this improper use of slang show us? The younger generation of today is known as the New Boomers (Carlson, 2008) beginning with people born in the early 1980’s and ending with people born in the early 2000’s. These New Boomers rely heavily on texting, social networking, and email as main forms of communication, as opposed to writing letters, speaking on the phone, and communicating face-to-face. Because of these new networking tools, the younger generation is losing its ability to properly and effectively communicate. Technology has a negative impact on the communication and social skills of today’s younger generation. It can affect someone’s communication skills by means of impairing relationships between people, influencing a person’s general social skills, and inhibiting the vocabulary of the younger generation. The use of technology can impair relationships. The relationship between a teen and their grandparents could potentially be jeopardized because of the use – or lack of use – of technology. A lot of elderly people are reluctant to use new technologies such as texting, email or facebook. Teens and pre-teens of the New Boomer generation are too engaged in using those new technologies to pay attention to their significant family members, such as their grandparents. For example in my family my grandmother will not use any new technology because in her opinion, the cost is too high. My brother does not ever talk to her, because he is always busy on MSN instant messaging or Facebook,
6094157
Professor Langston
ENG 1100 PP
4 November, 2010
Is Technology Always Beneficial? Thinking back to my grade ten English class, I cannot help but remember the time my teacher read my friend’s essay aloud. The whole essay sounded great, it had a strong argument and used exemplary grammar, until I heard the word ‘LOL’. The entire room burst out laughing, knowing perfectly well that using informal slang in a formal essay is inappropriate. What does this improper use of slang show us? The younger generation of today is known as the New Boomers (Carlson, 2008) beginning with people born in the early 1980’s and ending with people born in the early 2000’s. These New Boomers rely heavily on texting, social networking, and email as main forms of communication, as opposed to writing letters, speaking on the phone, and communicating face-to-face. Because of these new networking tools, the younger generation is losing its ability to properly and effectively communicate. Technology has a negative impact on the communication and social skills of today’s younger generation. It can affect someone’s communication skills by means of impairing relationships between people, influencing a person’s general social skills, and inhibiting the vocabulary of the younger generation. The use of technology can impair relationships. The relationship between a teen and their grandparents could potentially be jeopardized because of the use – or lack of use – of technology. A lot of elderly people are reluctant to use new technologies such as texting, email or facebook. Teens and pre-teens of the New Boomer generation are too engaged in using those new technologies to pay attention to their significant family members, such as their grandparents. For example in my family my grandmother will not use any new technology because in her opinion, the cost is too high. My brother does not ever talk to her, because he is always busy on MSN instant messaging or Facebook,
Bibliography: Carlson, Elwood (2008). The Lucky Few: Between the Greatest Generation and the Baby Boom. Springer Science + Business Media B.V., Florida. Proudfoot, Shannon. “Teens Will Use Formal Writing Skills As Needed”, 18 January 2010. Retireved on 02 November 2010 Scott, Tom. "Public Speaking or Death?", 24 May 1999. Retrieved on 02 November 2010.