In the era of a digital age it is hard to imagine a world without the easy use of tech. Even if we can imagine such a world we take pity on those back in the day for not having it and saying there is no way they did all the amazing things they did without the use of tech. I am a writer and have been all my life. I’ve been devoted to writing letters to people but these past few months when I got my phone from my brother one day I woke up and couldn’t find it so the first thing I did was search frantically. Finally I found it under my bed then kicked myself figuratively because I was becoming the person I told people I didn’t and never would become. I didn’t want tech to be the ‘center’ of my life instead of my writing. It only took a few months but that’s how fast it takes to become addicted and parents sadly aren’t helping. By first grade fourty percent of kids already have their own phone given to them. Fourty percent! That’s a lot if you ask me. Already before good habits of spelling and grammar kick in they are sucked into the fast-paced digital world and want to grow up as fast as they can. What if instead of giving kids phones while in highschool we gave them something that is unbreakable, doesn’t cost anything for fixes and lasts longer. What would happen if all kids grew up learning the value of writing and all it has done to help people in the world and throughout history? What would happen to their attitude? Their Language? Life in the future would not be the same. I can tell you that. So should we let our kids continue to be robots and forget the power of the human hands then let them try their hardest to keep pace in this fast-paced no time for anything era or teach them that a piece of paper and pencil can unlock way more then what any google search could give you? I mean, digital means millions of trees saved and no wood being used for papers and pencils but is that good enough of an excuse not to write?
“If people cannot right well, they cannot think well; and if they cannot think well, others will do it for them.” -George Orwell.
I, G. Gelb founder of grammartology once said that writing is a system of human intercommunication by means of conventional visible marks'' In latent terms writing is the act of something written using letters or characters that serve as visible signs of ideas, words, or symbols while texting is the creation and transmission of short electronic text messages between two or more mobile device users over a network. These two may have different definitions but they are used interchangeably everyday. How can you know what form is better for you. Yes, you could sum it up in one sentence; texting is faster than writing so what are the benefits of writing a letter to someone? For this we’ll put texting vs. writing head to head in a six round winner take all match up. The rounds will include; spelling, grammar, complete thoughts, health, understanding, and gift giving; How personal is it. Just texting the word hi to writing a letter saying the word hi can be taken in totally different ways by different people.
Fighting out of the red corner we have Writing; originally from thirty one hundred b.c he stands seven letters high weighing in at one hundred twenty pounds let me tell you his road to get here was not an easy one. In Egypt only the officials, priests, scribes and pharohs were taught how to read and write distinguishing the earliest civilizations in two from elite to peasants. Babylonian scribes and officials were to interpret and carry out the law since most could not read or write but Writing could never be tied down. He fought his way out into the minds of everyone else in five hundred b.c helping rulers govern vast areas more effectively. As with time and age writing went from seven hundred words and symbols down to two hundred and steadily dropping helping woman, kids, parents, and friends pick up the language easier but don’t let his shortness stop you from his unbeatable strength he has to pierce anyones heart with a heart letter. Give it up for……………………………..Writing!!!!”
And fighting out of the blue corner we have weighing in at only four letters and height tipping the charts we have Texting! Growing up in the early nineteen hundreds texting only knew one thing. Speed. In nineteen ninety two the first text was sent from a developer in Selma Group Telecoms to Richard Jarvis at Vodafone saying only two letters; Merry Christmas. From then on texting has only bloomed and the rise of phone and apps have made texting way more accessible and widespread. Roughly around the same time thirty years ago texting wasn’t getting the job done so this puppy was not going to be backed into a corner that easy no sir. Slang was born and emojis soon followed afterwards further reducing the sentence down to a slang Jaguon LOL. He knows no defeat, has never seen pain and only grows stronger everyday. Not stacking my life on it but he has told me that robots will soon be implemented on civilization and they are working on two life size models as we speak oh my.
“Ok, gentlemen, hands in the middle. This fight will be six rounds; four out of six wins all. Agree?”
“Agree.”
“Now remember this will be a clean fight so no swearing and no calling names. Ready?”
“Ready”
Ok first round is spelling. Vocabulary is a key skill in early education. The first grades are all about vocabulary lists, and spelling tests not to mention sentence writing. Spelling can take a hit when kids, during this critical learning time, use short forms before they know the whole word, let alone how to spell it. Writing, show us what you got.
Time to push some buttons! The reason why you should write letters instead of text is because writing letters helps practice your handwriting and the development of complete thoughts/ideas. With all your jumble mumble Text, writing letters helps the reader better understand what the writer was trying to say. You can tell how the writer was feeling, what mood they were in and what message they wanted to convey whereas with text the words could get wrongly interpreted in the reader's mind. Letters may be longer than quick texts but that just means that the writer is able to communicate their thoughts more clearly.
“Text!”
“Hm. Texting improves reading and writing. Here me out for a second. The average American sends over three thousand three hundred thirty nine texts a month girls outweighting boys by over four thousand a month. That’s one hundred thirty plus messages a day or one text every ten minutes. You may see kids everyday texting on their phones and worry how they will be in school but don’t worry. Kids know how to turn off their slang jargon and write a formal paper to their teacher, Write! Texting hasn’t sucked the minds of everybody you know. A positive british study found in the Journal of Computer Assisted learning said the kids who text have a higher desire and passion to read and form more complete sentences.
“I can see it is a close one. Next round; Grammar!! Write!”
Thank you. Thank you. With writing you can’t merely press the backspace button when you mess up so you have to already be thinking about the end punctuation mark of a sentence before you can even begin with the first letter. While grammar “rules” have changed in the past one hundred years its impact hasn’t. Professionals with fewer grammar errors in their profiles achieved higher positions in jobs than the ones who didn’t because they made two point five percent more mistakes then the ones who got a higher job. Fewer errors mean more promotions. Professionals with higher promotions I’m talking six to nine times make fourty five percent less grammatical errors then ones who only get promoted one to four times. People who focus on grammar pay more attention to detail; are more credible, professional, and accurate in their work. People demonstrate critical thinking when they can get grammar down. They not only can understand the structure of complex sentences but other complex problems in the world as well. An understanding in Grammar helps your intellectual aptitude or reputation people see you. If you take the time in knowing the right grammar rules such as knowing when to use it instead of it’s; you show others that you’re not lazy, not easily distracted and have a drive to learn new stuff. It used to be big companies hiring you if you had your Ged or a gpa higher than a certain number but now it is how skilled are you at math and writing/grammar. Writing letters helps you develop the skills to get into any job you want.
“Text!”
Yes, texting boosts phonology or speech sounds and pronounciation. Texting helps kids understand how letters, sounds, and words correlate, work together and are built further improving spelling and grammar skills. The more kids omite words from sentences the better they are at grammatical tasks which doesn’t make sense but let me reprhase. When you omit a word the reader has to work harder on what that word was to complete the sentence so they’re learning to structure sentences using your omitted words.
“I like the positive competitiveness so far. Ready for the next round; complete thoughts! Text, take it away.”
Thank you. While texting is mostly considered slang talk and short quick words texting also has complete thoughts. Just like with short stories you have to put forth more thought and energy to make a short then whereas with a longer book you don’t need a complete thought cause you can just transition into another chapter.
“Hey, you take that back. All you do is send short and fast texts and no one even knows what you’re saying with your emojis. Complete my butt. Let me go over and push your buttons.”
“Woo hey now. Break it up. You promised no fighting. Write, Text! Do you have any more to say, Text?”
“I’ve said enough.”
“Write, what is your take on complete thoughts?”
Written letters may be longer and may take longer to get to its destinatiaon but it is all worth it cause as I said with a letter the reader is more able to understand what the writer was trying to convey as in a short slang text filled with emojis it will be harder. Writing includes contextual in depth details so that the letter can be better understood by the reader.”
“Both of your takes on this subject are amazing but when it comes down to it what can ultimately be gained from writing or from texting. What are the health benefits of each? Write, you’re up.”
There are many benefits of Writing. First, let’s look on the reading side of writing. Reading to learn new vocabulary is way better than watching the TV cause books contain fifty percent more rare words that you don’t already know and are used in a sentence so you already know how to use the new word you’ve just discovered. Writing helps you get into a ‘zen’ or meditation/calm place where you can de-sress and use a more effective method to convey a message across using a letter. A small fact is that when someone receives a new pen ninety seven percent of them the first thing they write to try it out is writing their own name. When a kid receives a new phone it is just the same as any other. They text all their friends saying one single word;hi. Just to make sure the phone is working. Time to drop some big words on a phony that knows none. Writing occurs in our frontal and parietal lobe. If it is damaged then our ability to write is weakened and we start to forget how to write the most basic of words. Our parietal lobe is where we decipfher words and language and can then interpret what they mean. When you write something down you trigger the reticular activating system or the filter where all the information your brains need is stored and processed helping you to focus one the topic at hand. Basically when you write something as opposed to text it sends messages in celles to the forefront of your brain telling it that it needs to pay closer attention. Another benefit of writing is that you feel more emotion from reading a letter. Your Broca’s area and Wernicke’s area or your language processors turn words into meanings. Then when the writer uses words like running, jumping, loving, soft like snow etc...the sensory responses in our brain are also activated which help us feel more like we’re relieving the story in first person how they felt or wanted communicated. You can’t get that with just a simple text.
“Text!”
Write, those were all great things but I think you forgot to mention that teenagers on average only have a level ten to level eleven reading age group. The reason why a lot of kids can’t ace the act’s and CGSE exam papers is because most cannot even read well enough to even understand what the questions are on those papers. Texting can improve interpersonal relationships, help people deal with traumatic events and bridge interpersonal gaps. Now you no longer have to wait days to send and receive a leader from a friend across the seas. Now all it takes is one push of a button. Texting improves one's mood, and loneliness and feelings of upset. Texting makes communications with your doctor easier, making you more prone to telling them everything that is happening with you then meeting face to face and only spilling a little. Texting, advances research, and is an accurate way of gathering patien info in scientific studies while also supporting at risk or suicidal victims being able to reach out with speed makng the fast response exactly what they needed.”
“Yes, but, Text you should’t have your phone out when you’re with friends. Even having it turned off and face down but visible with a group of friends your mind will wander to that device and not the conversation at hand. People use texting to avoid difficult situations and could have problems down the road with strong relationships with others. Texting can give you a poor sense of strength when you know you are weak and vulnerable. Don’t get me wrong when you need that confidence texting can help you get it not going to lie but just don’t have it out even with strangers. Stranger danger may be real but getting the chance to potentially open your eyes to a whole new idea and experience through someone is way better than informing your friend via text that you are sure to be there at their sleepover.”
“Text, how do you plea?”
Well, umm. Text when you're truly alone and try to reach out to the ones you think need a quick message of gretting first instead of shooting your friend an instanst mesage. Texting people to help reach out and solve a situation brings about less pain. Uuuh, speaking of the mind and the different lobes always use exclamation marks to help the reader better understand what it is you’re trying to say. More and more people get to bond closer together thanks to text. Seventy percent of people have a cellphone or some mobile device they can text on further increasing the speed it is to check up on each other. No longer will you need human intervention...or letters!! Texting hasn’t involved just robots and gadgets but is helpful as well making hotlines for various crises. No longer will you have to call or send a letter; you can just text. For example the Crisis Text line originally found in 2013 in 2018 at the end of the year they had responded and helped over seventy five million text based people.
“Text, nice try but I think Write won this one hands down, Next round; Understanding. Write, thoughts?”
“This is an easy one. The longer the letter and the more the words the easier it is for the person to see what you were writing and feel the emotion. It is way easier to look at a whole topic and bring it down to a size you can understand then looking at a small glimpse through a microscope and picturing what it looks like on a full scale. You never get the intended picture and meaning correct. Written letters helped warn of conflicts, wars, upriseings and plots on people's lives. Messengers were highly sought after more then then now so I would say writing would have to be very understandeable. Good writing skills are not only good on paper but reputable as well. Good communication will prevent clog ups and miscommunication between peers. “A strong writer will sum up the most important aspects at hand and touch on them individually, as well as proportionally.”-Huffpost.
“Text?”
Texting can be easily understood; that is if you know the language. If you don't know it then it’s okay because we have apps for that as well.
“You have apps for everything!”
As I was saying in any time of need people can quickly understand a text message saying help then a letter saying it as well.
‘You done?”
“Yes!”
“Okay, moving onto our last and final round. Winner takes all. How are you at gift giving/making things personal. Text, you’re up.”
That’s easy. Since texting is mobile as is everything these days nothing gets deleted so if you want to find that one text that someone sent you just enter the date in your text and presto it’s there.
Umm, no. “
“To send a letter is a good way to go somewhere without moving anything but your heart.” -Phyllis Theroux.
For me, when you receive a handwritten letter it is the best gift of all. Although you cannot physically see the person you know the thought, time and care they took to make you a beautiful letter which makes it feel like they’re in the room with you. They sat down amidst their busy day and life to think about you and write you something that you’ll cherish forever. A handwritten letter is like giving a piece of yourself. More personal is a love letter or a deep personal relationship letter. You know your better friend spent time and patience crafting the best letter possible for you saying what they want to say to you but afraid to say to you in person because they couldn’t get it off their tongue or didn’t know how the person would react. At the end of the day,
“A letter is always better than a phone call. People write things in letters they would never say in person. They permit themselves to write down feelings and observations using emotional syntax far more intimate and powerful then speech will allow.” -Alice Steinbech.
“Thank you for your time you two. The judges are very busy deciding who the winner is and you all will find out soon………And the winner, chosen by unanimous decision is…………..Writer!! Any words you would like to say.”
“Yes, Thank you! Thank you! I would like to thank my family, my mom, this community for letting me get the chance to compete and my bench; the people who supported me. Thank you…....
Oxford Learning, “https://www.oxfordlearning.com/texting-vs-writing-the-problem-with-instant-messag/” Oct. 26, 2006
Najdzinski L, Rebecca “https://www.theodysseyonline.com/5-reasons-handwritten-letter-better-than-text” July 12, 2016
Melen, Michele “https://grammar.yourdictionary.com/slang/texting-slang.html”
https://myessaypoint.com/positive-negative-effects-texting
https://journals.plos.org/plosone/article?id=10.1371/journal.pone.0152409#sec005
http://neurorelay.com/2013/08/07/how-does-writing-affect-your-brain/
https://www.huffpost.com/entry/reasons-why-writing-remai_b_12701380
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