LOL: how technology has made us better writers

There isn’t one person in this country who hasn’t read the three letters “LOL” used to describe a state of: Laughing Out Loud.

More than likely, you were confused early on by why someone would ever want to overuse such a simple and useless three letters. However on the same token, you were confused as well why 80% of the country uses it on a daily basis including yourself, your girlfriend, your best friend and.. *shutter* your mom. It is hard to say exactly where this term came from or why it became so popular but, without knowing specfics, I will assume and report that the term LOL was created by someone who: A) laughed a lot and B) hated good grammar. Someone could also say that this supposed persons humour was contagious because it caught on faster than flys find sh*t.

In the modern day of smartphones and computers these phrases are tossed out all too often. So much so in fact that when I receive a text message with “ROFL” in it, I have to question whether they are actually rolling on the floor laughing or just being polite. By overusing these common phrases we have taken a word that means nothing and then made it actually mean nothing. Strangely enough math rules apply (two negatives equal a positive) because people STILL use these phrases.

The Bright Side:

Attention should be brought to the fact that even though technology has made our grammar terrible, it has done something that 5th grade teachers have struggled with for decades. Technology has made us write. A LOT. If you are old enough think back to when no one even knew what a “instant message” was. How often did you actually write something? And the times you did, how often was a teacher forcing you to? This is exactly my point.

Not only has it gotten kids to write but they are writing better. According to a study done by BBC, they came to the conclusion that “text speak” is actually associated with strong literacy skills. Researchers say text language uses word play and requires an awareness of how sounds relate to written English. Instead of this half-assed writing being destructive on grammar it has proven to increase a child’s phonological awareness which is a skill need to learn the correct spelling of words. In short: having bad grammar actually improves your grammar. Why didn’t I thunk of dat?

Kids nowadays write more than they ever have. Whether they are emailing or text messaging a friend, parent, or a 35-year-old child molester, they are reinforcing their writing skills in more ways than most schools could ever teach. Some might say that we have actually tricked the kids to becoming smarter without them even knowing (see how I took the credit?). And to that I say:

LOL.