on literacy, language, and LOLs
I've been reading a book of J.R.R. Tolkien's letters, which are suprisingly interesting, even when he is not writing about Lord of the Rings. What is most fascinating, I think, is the differences between communication then and communication now, as well as, when you think about the comparison, what happens to communication in the future.
This is not the only book of letters I have ever read, and while most people do not possess the many-layered mind of dear old Professor Tolkien here, they are nonetheless much more verbose than (almost) any letter or email I've ever gotten or sent. Granted, I suppose these get included in books for some reason, so there are probably many out there that are less well-written. It's just very different, thinking that we don't really do that any more. I guess if you are not me and therefore not horribly awkward on the phone, you call instead of writing letters. And if you are me you send emails or write in this crazy thing (which is sort of a letter to the general universe, I suppose).
So communication is not necessarily lessened (I would actually argue it has expanded) but it is certainly different. Does that make it better? I don't know. Although you all on my Friends list are generally very good writers, going randomly through strangers' journals yields a great many horribly spelled and written in English poor enough to make Shakespeare's bones do cartwheels. In some ways I think communication is so easy now it makes us lazy, and since there is no one to perform the function of a gatekeeper online (as there would be editors and such in print media), there is no way to keep it from being horrid or, conversely, encourage people to enjoy using the English language properly.
But there are other ramifications, too. (It's funny how sometimes in life a lot of relevant topics pop up at the same time.) The other day I was at work, listening in on one of the classes, and I heard them talking about the difference between how people read when they were growing up and how their grandchildren read now. One old man thought that kids today found it difficult to get through books, even easier ones; his theory was that we are so used to getting quick and easy visual gratification through television and movies that this generation, our generation, doesn't know how to read things properly. Our minds aren't taught to process written words in the same way because we don't read as much as we watch.
To a certain extent I think this is true, although not necessarily a bad thing, like they thought. I know plenty of people who watch the movie and then think they needn't bother to read the book. I'm guilty of it myself (I tried, Jane Austen, I really did). I think people should read the books, if they can, but I also think there's something to be said for simply enjoying a good story in a different format.
The people in that class thought that graphic novels would replace actual books in terms of 'story-telling devices' in fifty years or maybe even less, because that is more akin to the pictorial format the younger generations think in now. Going even farther, I can easily imagine how culture could eventually evolve away from books altogether, going the way of movies by recording only picture and sound, with only a few specialists needing to know how to actually read. With even just current technology, I can come up with lots of ways you could make it unnecessary to read. Who knows where we could go in the future. I'm not the only one to think this way, either--on Star Trek they (presumably) know how to read, but they go to the holodeck to experience stories. They don't write down log entries, they record them. If you can learn everything by hearing it and seeing it (or in the holodeck actually experiencing it), who needs to read it, really? (Not that Star Trek is in any way true, of course, though I for one would be rather pleased to find out there were real Klingons.)
So does it matter, then, if we get lazy and write LOL R U 4 RL? Maybe not, in the long run. But it makes me a little bit sad to think about the beautiful thoughts Tolkien wrote down in his letters, and beyond that all the wonderful and amazing things there are to read, and imagine that someday no one will be able to enjoy them just for the sake of the written word itself.
Perhaps the challenge here is A) Read something instead of just watching the movie, and B) Write something (preferably using actual words), and enjoy written language while we still have it. I've thrown down the gauntlet. Take it up.
This is not the only book of letters I have ever read, and while most people do not possess the many-layered mind of dear old Professor Tolkien here, they are nonetheless much more verbose than (almost) any letter or email I've ever gotten or sent. Granted, I suppose these get included in books for some reason, so there are probably many out there that are less well-written. It's just very different, thinking that we don't really do that any more. I guess if you are not me and therefore not horribly awkward on the phone, you call instead of writing letters. And if you are me you send emails or write in this crazy thing (which is sort of a letter to the general universe, I suppose).
So communication is not necessarily lessened (I would actually argue it has expanded) but it is certainly different. Does that make it better? I don't know. Although you all on my Friends list are generally very good writers, going randomly through strangers' journals yields a great many horribly spelled and written in English poor enough to make Shakespeare's bones do cartwheels. In some ways I think communication is so easy now it makes us lazy, and since there is no one to perform the function of a gatekeeper online (as there would be editors and such in print media), there is no way to keep it from being horrid or, conversely, encourage people to enjoy using the English language properly.
But there are other ramifications, too. (It's funny how sometimes in life a lot of relevant topics pop up at the same time.) The other day I was at work, listening in on one of the classes, and I heard them talking about the difference between how people read when they were growing up and how their grandchildren read now. One old man thought that kids today found it difficult to get through books, even easier ones; his theory was that we are so used to getting quick and easy visual gratification through television and movies that this generation, our generation, doesn't know how to read things properly. Our minds aren't taught to process written words in the same way because we don't read as much as we watch.
To a certain extent I think this is true, although not necessarily a bad thing, like they thought. I know plenty of people who watch the movie and then think they needn't bother to read the book. I'm guilty of it myself (I tried, Jane Austen, I really did). I think people should read the books, if they can, but I also think there's something to be said for simply enjoying a good story in a different format.
The people in that class thought that graphic novels would replace actual books in terms of 'story-telling devices' in fifty years or maybe even less, because that is more akin to the pictorial format the younger generations think in now. Going even farther, I can easily imagine how culture could eventually evolve away from books altogether, going the way of movies by recording only picture and sound, with only a few specialists needing to know how to actually read. With even just current technology, I can come up with lots of ways you could make it unnecessary to read. Who knows where we could go in the future. I'm not the only one to think this way, either--on Star Trek they (presumably) know how to read, but they go to the holodeck to experience stories. They don't write down log entries, they record them. If you can learn everything by hearing it and seeing it (or in the holodeck actually experiencing it), who needs to read it, really? (Not that Star Trek is in any way true, of course, though I for one would be rather pleased to find out there were real Klingons.)
So does it matter, then, if we get lazy and write LOL R U 4 RL? Maybe not, in the long run. But it makes me a little bit sad to think about the beautiful thoughts Tolkien wrote down in his letters, and beyond that all the wonderful and amazing things there are to read, and imagine that someday no one will be able to enjoy them just for the sake of the written word itself.
Perhaps the challenge here is A) Read something instead of just watching the movie, and B) Write something (preferably using actual words), and enjoy written language while we still have it. I've thrown down the gauntlet. Take it up.