[sema4hacker]

>Keyboards, instant messaging, blogs, social media.

I've got a 29-year-old employee from whom I receive texts and emails every day. The grammar and auto-spell word substitutions are frequently so bad I have to respond "do you mean X or Y?", and sometimes so confusing I can't parse their message at all.

>I think the average person reads and writes as much as always

Perhaps, but the writing quality has definitely taken a dive.

[aDyslecticCrow]

Isn't that just the new standard set by phones and instant messaging? Iterative instant commutation rather than "letters" of formatted text. I too write a lot of messages in a single pass and press *send*, only to "edit" any errors afterawrds. (or a with good old "*afterwards" message afterwards)

Phones are the new default, but they are terrible for long form writing. Moving a cursor to the middle of a section or moving a section around is frankly more effort than its worth. Just send it and clarify later. I'm not saying its a good thing, but i would call it more of a shift than a decline. If you ask them to write a report the writing may spectacular, since they're actually by a proper keyboard and in a format with more strict writing standards.

[incone123]

Having to question "do you mean x or y" because the sender is not clear is not iterating.

[JohnBooty]

Rather than debating if it's iteration or not... isn't that potentially an improvement?

In Ye Olden Days, you don't think the same sorts of miscommunications happened? A look at history (or history viewed through the lens of classical literature) sure makes it seem like miscommunication levels were always pretty high

At least today you can get instant clarification on "do you mean x or y" instead of waiting weeks or months for dudes on horses to move pieces of paper back and forth between you and your penpal

[incone123]

I'm not debating. I made a statement.

[JohnBooty]

Right, right.

It was a very funny statement because it very much is iteration by any definition, and it's always a laugh when somebody embarrasses themselves by simultaneously doing the same thing they're criticizing. Yikes, right?

I think your meaning was clear, though. So that's what I responded to.

[JumpCrisscross]

> Isn't that just the new standard set by phones and instant messaging?

No, plenty of twentysomethings can competently communicate in writing. There are just a lost more today who are functionally illiterate.