FINAL PIECE

Done by Amina Thaher

English Language and Literature

Mr. Michael

Due : Monday 27th of October 2014

 

For this assignment I decided to write two opinion columns that discuss the same concept with contradicting opinions. Chosing an opinion column to discuss the effect of texting through social networks on communication enables me to provide a more profound fullfillment of the task. The first response will be written from the perspective of a regular citizen who has experienced a time where using technology to communicate wasn’t a possibility. The second column, however, will be written from the perspective of a young university student who is only familiar with the technological world of communication. Depending on the argument , the target audience would be people who practice what the writer is against or who simply want to further their knowledge on how texting through social networks affects language and communication. The purpose of both responses would be to reflect on the points that both arguments are trying to make, to bring attention to the positive and negative impacts of using social networks to communicate or replace language. Both opinion columns make connections with the initial question throughout the entire text. The key here is to demonstrate a statement that is not solely based on facts, but rather prior experiences, statistics anmd personal opinion.

THE TIMES

10/8/2014

Behold of the new era of "Communication"

As a person who is familiar with both the world of no texting and this version of it, it is my right to complain about this issue It is truly baffling how people these days think that their way of communication could ever compensate, if not  replace the true meaning of it. And I don’t mean the definition, im referring to the actual interpretation that communication has accumulated over the years. For a very long time technology wasn’t a very commonly accepted part of that and shouldn’t be, for obvious reasons. The people of today are becoming easily distracted, their attention span being shorter than a goldfish's. They're isolating themselves and therefore eliminating opportunities that can not be replaced by chatting to someone for hours.

Ever thought about where social anxiety might've popped from up all of a sudden? The cyber bullying? Sudden suicides, seeds that plant depression? People of all ages are affected through those factors and they're all ways of communication right? It is fairly easy for someone to develop a great ego and a dose of fake confidence when all you have to do is type in some letters, click send and stay anonymous if suitable. In contrast there are honestly not a lot of people who would dare and speak the truth, which in turn can be abused through social networking where new sneaky skills are acquired such as hacking and possibly destroying someones reputation. Taking a look at those hybrid versions of our beautifully articulated language/s is cringe worthy. "LOL" for laughing out loud. "BTW" for by the way. "lol ur stoopid" for Laughing out loud, you're stupid.

Most of the time it's just used to pass the boredom and not to express true feelings. Often there are misconceptions on what people actually mean or how they feel in reality and it all just numbs the conversations, stripping the partners off their identity and programming people to react less and become more self absorbed as well as rude and impatient. All that because of texting. A much more fitting alternative would be to give the electronical device the cold shoulder and actually T A L K to someone face to face, using your mouth and voice to give off thoughts, not your finger tips. We were given voices for a reason. Enjoy each others presence and develop healthy communication skills , regaining your identity as a human being with feelings and ideas that arent copypasted or marked with fake "lol's" and "rofl's" when your butt is neatly planted on your chair and your mouth a straight pinched line. Try it out and then think about wether texting and social networks really only have positive aspects to them. Just an idea to make this world a better place to live in. Thankyou for taking the time to read this!

Ralph F. Smith, aged 57 , New Jersey,

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

10/8/2014

Why Talk when you can Text?

So lately ive been reading a lot about how apparently texcting and using social networks is dumbing down the youth of today.                                    

Now despite those claims having negative impacts on their users, at the end of the day everyone with a respectable job or an education will have used it at least once, for their personal comfort.

As a current university student in New York City, I feel responsible about voicing my opinion on this matter. A lot of people find communicating through texting or social networks much more effective and beneficial. Otherwise we wouldn’t have so many people using that way of communication, in particular. I find that as a majority it is the people who are not familiar to the world of technology , that disagree with it and try to make up pathetic excuses to support their laughable argument. The majority claims that the academic efforts concerning subjects that require a lot of writing and critical thinking which includes basic grammatical knowledge is detoriating. Or that our youth doesn’t master the basic concepts of real life communication and that their linguistic abilities are receding rapidly due to constant shortening of entire stories and quick texting, not giving us sufficient time to process our thoughts and type them out. Wrong. That’s another load of cow droppings coming at you right there. We weren't born with little iphones texting away and we spent all of kindergarden and primary school withouttexting and social networks. As you can see I haven't reached the golden "21" , yet here I am typing away using perfectly constructed sentences with a wide and effective range of vocabulary. And I am not an exeption. We are very well capable of seperating our social network texting language from when we talk to someone with authority or have to write an essay on Stalin. One thing that particularly irritates me is how you look down on us so easily, as if you would've been any better if texting and social networks wouldve been introduced back in your days!                                                          

Isn't talking identical to texting? Yeah, let that one sink in. When you talk to someone you're not going to sit there contemplating things like : "Oh what is the absolute best word I could use for this expression right now and when does the comma settle in?"   Nope. You are simply transporting the thoughts you formulate into a direct message which is your voice , that will quickly spit out your thoughts. Honestly texting someone or using social networks does force you to respect some grammatical and spelling rules to some extent, to prevent misunderstandings. So really, not everyone shortens their terms dramatically. No one will walk or drive to the other end of the city just to ask what the newest gossip is or what your friends are doing tonight. So it would help us all if you could just face the fact that texting and social network communications have very minor negative effects on us that don’t last long. Concerning your claims of us being unable to communicate, we mostly still go toschool, university or work and are very capable of talking with others. Texting doesn’t damage our people or give them depression, the problems will always come from the peopleone way or another. I hope this has made any reader that didn’t agree with my opinion at least respect it. The facts are there, there's no serious permanent damage with texting that can't be done by talking. Thank you for your time.

Jace Newthorn , Aged 19 , NYC.