The Impact of the Computer on Writing :: Teaching Writing Education Essays

The Impact of the Computer on Writing In 1999 my family purchased their very first computer. A few days after, we were connected to the World Wide Web. All of my friends had been online for years prior so it was a big deal to finally have it. Since then, the way that I communicate has changed drastically. Everything from the way that I talk to my friends to the way that I pay my bills is now done online, instead of the traditional way. The internet has offered so much change to society. Some people are still without it, and as I think about it, I wonder how they are surviving. It seems that most everything I do is related to this machine in some way. I e-mail, pay my bills, instant message, buy material items, research, keep an online journal, and I even take classes on the web. Without it I would be a mess. Upon coming into college, I finally had access to high speed internet. By any standards it was awesome. It caused me to increase my use of the World Wide Web dramatically. I could not get enough of it. It was not long at all before AOL instant messenger was the newest addiction of my life. The thought of being able to talk to many people at once and so quickly was amazing. I was able to keep in touch with my friends who had moved across the country without having to pay a long distance bill. Who would complain at all the conveniences that it had to offer. With this program I was also introduced to a new way of writing. Let’s state the fact that people are lazy. When using any sort of instant messaging system there is a way to abbreviate everything. An example of this would be typing ‘ttyl’ instead of typing out ‘talk to you later.’ Another example would be simply putting ‘u’ meaning ‘you.’ There are so many of these shortened ways. These changes in writing also show up in e-mail. People seem to be very inclined to use the abbreviated ways of writing certain words or phrases when writing out e-mails. This is more in informal types of mail. I personally do not mind it to a point, but when it is used extensively it can be annoying and distractive. Also, much of the time, even the most basic of punctuation is forgotten or just not used.