Heard this guy interviewed on Georgia Public Radio today.
He's a professor "just up the road," as we say.
In the radio interview, he made it clear that he's not against the Internet and all its advantages; but he also said teens are especially in a cocoon if all they're doing is communicating with — and learning from — other teens via computer.
Now, I don't have a dog in this hunt. I don't have children. But I do care that we might be raising new generations of people who aren't very well-rounded and who don't go to museums or read books, and who can't spell entire words without abbreviations.
What say you?
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3 comments:
Well, I have a thirteen year old and texting is a big deal for him. Actually all of us are big texters-- my husband and I find it a useful and unobtrusive way to communicate.
I don't think it is detrimental to my son's relationships, and as far as I can tell he uses real English LOL. I do worry about the future of spelling and grammar now that IM'ing and texting are so prevalent among our youth. "U no wut i mean?" LOL
But I have found that my son can text me about stuff that he would be uncomfortable saying to my face (girls etc) So that is neat. And the time my 6 year old and I practiced her spelling words via AIM, I knew it was a new day. "This is fun," she said. And it was. I thought, "I can subtly correct her spelling or grammar without it seeming like a big deal." She told me "by" and I told her "bye." To which she replied "wutever." Oh well, so much for being subtle.
I think the day I really caught on that this was revolutionary was the day Jason sneezed in church and got a text message that said "Bless you"
Leslie
Thanks for the mom's perspective!
Well, from another mom's perspective...I say this is why my soon to be 13 year old and 11 year old are the "only kids in the world" (according to some) who don't have cell phones. They won't until they are old enough to drive away on their own. Until then, every place they will ever be will be with another adult who has a phone.
Actually, they don't mind at all. Truly. The 11 year old is a little fascinated with her friends' phones, but only in the sense that she thinks it's funny that they text so much.
Nor do they have Facebook accounts. Mainly because the Facebook rules state that one must be 13 to have an account. At our house, we obey the rules. Soon to be 13 year old is hoping we will let her get an account next month. If we do, it will be closely monitored.
And, for what it's worth, 11 year old spelled poignancy correctly today, and used it in a sentence, along with 19 other such words. She made a 96 on her spelling test (she reversed the r and the e in wretchedness).
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