sticyr 1 Kenneth St. Cyr Professor Adam Padgett English 102 14 November 2016 able in years past and so has the ( Technology has advanced far beyond anything imagi _———— use and reliance on such technology. The number of computers per household is at an all-time Ne high, ad computers per houschold in 2012. Young people today are connected constantly by all sorts of modem advanceme ing individuals the ability to send messages such as, “lol”, wicatit ofa, au IDK", “R U going out 2nite” from palm to palm all over the world with the simple button. These-communication devices come equipped with many technologies that replac skills once needed to converse effectively with another individual. Smart phones have predictive text and autocorrect that act as a crutch for poor spelling’skills. The reliance on this advance in technology erodes the spelling skills of individuals jour soca | / ceutch, Common shorthand referred to as “Textspeak" ot “Textese” is used in rout Commeatil icatin ha by Facebook or Twit Cone a text message between se habits atcbactied iver, « ee users often exclude punctuati a shorthand emphasis and meaning to writing. These habits are seen in studies conducted ovebrdad habits autocorredt specu of social media poss and text message alike, Theses habits havea fect relationship weLi ee? hie to the mistakes teachers find in their studeni’academic writing. Technology | ato blame however, itis not free of guilt. As technology. vane etiane on technology becomes, inherently more and more severe. Where educators struggle is bridging the gap of information illiteracy that is shown by the effect of technology and the reliance on it. [ would venture to sayStcyr 2 that technology has changed the way we do several routine tasks, but gur refiance on these eur reliance on these 's have impacted many basic literacy skills such as spelling. use of technological adv punctuation and grammar, as well as reading comprehension in millennials. Digital natives and students entering college are continually connected through high- ices (N cumag 101) These individuals bave also been labeled as millennials < 6" and.havdyeaves- struggle in elements of leaming Secause of the readily available, Students require technology to perform research or complete sxpectation of having informatic assignments, Students may also lack key writing skills and the ability to acquire global knowledge, self-ditection, critical thinking, and adaptability (Neumanny 102). This opens the question, “Does technology negatively affect learning or is laziness of the users the variable in # the decline of literacy?” tering esoklars, Hesiod travel Neumann presents her claims by discussing findings in categories such Gomi Literacy, Visual prevalence of digital textbooks Literacy, and Potential Pitfalls a out offered to college students in today’s generation Neumafin explains the use of images as Furturmint, duacntors instructional material. Mose importantly, she the methodalogy.of information literacy ig me hed ele: cain how. Pres to critical thinking skills. Students may also lack key writing skills powell aad the ability to acquire global knowledge, self-direction, critical thinking, and adaptability (Neuman 102). This may be the most pivotal statement made by Neumann in her findings," she explains the issues that millennials or digital natives face when it comes to‘academics. Fhese- ii -— to overcome'ff the classroom. AS wast ate-chaltengestiat Instructors have to create new strategii ies ‘eke Vr es fs technology makes studenfmore: ‘to lazinessjand feliance on technology increases, teachers must combat this through new and creative mediums of connecting with their < technologyfriven students./ st.cyr 3 (w ask itor no its happend all round yo) Day by day our culture is “a . eas ofou re om becoming less aware ofthe cognitive connection between writin Sceause of our most common grace fective use of communication, Festing. Writing skills across the board are being affected by the Be cance general misuse of shorthand abbreviations to convey oar messages as rapidly as possible, ( ‘most common are “lol” 'Laugh out loud}, “gtg" {Got to go"J,“hbu” (“How about you"), “cua (“because”), and “jk” (“Just kidding”) fAccording'to Metdae Cullingtony(Cullington, 94). z * WS ‘Some students may claim to never use these abbreviations in their formal writing put several ~ june find a English jeachers would disagree sseshey-fme com dents ) Statements tike ‘hese support the-findings, “A Minnesota teacher of the seventh and ninth grades says that she has to spend extra time in class editing papers and must “explicitly” remind her students that it is : fh stich Ca not acceptable to use text slang and abbreviations in writing" Phe frequency teh Flen amd Hae Pre guaney is ; g {Sudents use these abbreviationsMg habe Cust ape These oheovidions are inserted into stoduts formal writing as second nat enerally text between thirty and a hundred messages every day.” (Caltngon 94) With the average texter repeating these practices over several yee is understandable why one would become scene) using such abbreviations in writing. “Se “Wye inmly believes that because of tis lack of communication skills, Crom) students do not have the ability to write well. She blames the use of. acronyms and shorthand in text Messages for students” inability to spell and ultimately writ.” (Caltngtonyo0) Without mach rhetoric or ‘thought at all itis easy for Cullington to persuade me to support her belief even more thats ‘efore hearing her opinion. he logical facts behind the argument etin*# vivid picture ofthe nega aww “ys S ve relationshi quad a ‘eA RKtexting andthe use of abbreviations yf decreash)\ri iting skills among students cording to a : P the National Center for Education Statistic, only 34% of high school seniors a e “proficient” ‘ters in 2012, When comparing this trend of proficient ‘rters fo the number of average texte, gece") increasing