[Type the document subtitle]
As technology advances so do the ideas and philosophies behind proper and expedient communication through it and using it. One such philosophy embodies the assumption of the superiority of short hand communication. The assumption relies upon the fact that a growing number of people use short hand when emailing and or texting.
Why this could make sense:
There actually are a growing number of people who use short hand to communicate using the internet. The reasons are obvious as it takes less time to communicate complicated statements. Texting on-the-go has become an American past-time. Quick and efficient texting requires a mastery of internet short hand for proficiency. As more people text and master the short hand others pick up the trend and begin to run with themselves.
Internet short hand started with internet chat rooms. The infamous “lol” is no more than the international abbreviation for “I’m ‘laughing out loud’ at what you just said.” During the mid to late 90’s and into the early 2000’s chat room short hand experienced a serious boom in the internet community.
Currently, mobile devices have become the primary mode of communication. In fact, there are arguably more people that communicate by texting than people that communicate by email. Both modes of communication can be carried out by hand-held device (the mobile phone being chief among these devices). Most mobile devices have what are known as “qwerty” pronounced (kwurty), keypads beneath the display screen. These mini keyboards are the workshop of the world internet information communication. Much information is passed through the airwaves via text message. As messages fly short hand is used for quickness and efficiency.
Keep in mind that it is close to impossible to punch full-on grammatically-correct sentences and phrases into the small thumb-sized keyboards. Here is where proper grammar becomes a nuisance. According to Wertheimer (2002), “The bigger the message and the greater its urgency, the easier it is to condense and simplify words and sentences.” A good amount of texting is done in a pinch. Reports show that laws against texting while driving are not slowing it down. There are videos going viral of individuals having accidents while texting and walking at the same time.
The philosophy’s failure:
Although short hand has become the most popular mode of quick communication it has not so impressed the professional community. In fact internet short hand is seen as the slang of the script world. Besides its lack of credibility amongst the professional community it has a few practical failures as well.
One I will mention here is that there is no agreed upon standard internet short hand. Although there are words used on a general basis words can be made up in a moment’s notice and change the entire landscape. Another failure in it in regard to its relationship to the professional community is its lack of character in demonstrating skill and ability in communication.
While short hand has its advantages it fails to replace standard script communication in the area where it’s most important: academia and professional. The rubber hits the road where the dollars make sense. Keep short hand where it belongs in the chat rooms and on cell phones. It should never be integrated into the professional community; that is unless one wants to ruin his or her reputation.
References
Wertheimer, David (2002). 99.9 of Proper Grammar is Obsolete. Retrieved from http://www.digital-web.com/articles/999_of_proper_grammar_is_obsolete/
