Martha Irvine of the Associated Press wrote a very interesting article on the position of email in today's society. In 2006 Irvine wrote that this generation is using instant messaging and text messaging as a way to communicate rather than using email. She goes on to explain that emails are being used more to correspond through business. According to Irvine's article the younger generation's brains operate different than the older generation's brain. This I can agrre! I am in my late twenties and I rather send a quick text, or phone call rather than send an email. Today we are what I once heard someone refer to as a "microwave society". We want the instant gratification that the article speaks of. Because a different form of communication has developed (instant messaging, text messaging) that allows us to recieve an instant response, we use it more.
What I found most interesting was the date on this article. The article was written 5 years ago. It is amazing to me because the article remains true. The only difference is the popularity of Facebook has increased as well as Twitter. Now instead of texting or calling you can Facebook and Tweet someone. Again, these forms of communication are reserved for the informal, personal correspondence. Although there is a high rise in businesses and jobs using Facebook and Twitter.
The problem that I am finding with this new, quick form of communication is the effect it is having on my professional correspondance. In texting there are a lot of acronyms and short hand (LOL-laugh out loud, IDGT-I dont got time, IDK-I don't know). When typing a text message on certain phones the phone will even finish typing the word for you (type C-O-N-V and CONVERSATION will appear). This is inhabiting bad spelling habits. I sometimes find myself typing a paper and leave vowels off because I expect the computer to finish my sentence. Thank goodness for proofreading!
