urban overgrowth \08.15\

urban overgrowth \08.15\

Posted by Lauren at 9:17 PM ✪ No comment yet

I'm sure you've seen just as many articles and debates about the death of face-to-face communication, especially in regards to Generation Y and whatever they're calling the youngins these days.  As I was texting away this afternoon, I started thinking about the way in which this habit has changed the way we write...or type, rather.

Traditionally, it seems that writing was of a more formal nature, obeying punctuation and syntax rules.  As we've relegated phone calls and personal interaction to the past, the non-verbal forms have taken on more casual proportions.

Abbreviations and acronyms are only part of it.   In fact, we try to type out our communication to convey even the intonations and expressions that you would experience in person.  Emoticons :-/, draggggging out words with repeated letters...ellipsis to demonstrate a dramatic pause or open-ended thought...

I'm as guilty as most (although I do avoid the acronyms, they just bug me), hiding behind my technology for communication.  As a self-professed introvert, it's easier and more comfortable to send an email or a text.  Since it's become a social norm, I don't generally think twice about it either.

Yet, as a lover of all things grammar, punctuation and syntax, I have a difficult time accepting the virtual slaughter of the written word.  Pun intended.