Why I Dont Tweet By Adam Gopnik Summary

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Dear Editor,

Your newspaper recently published an article titled “A Point of View: Why I don’t tweet” by Adam Gopnik. As a student of linguistics, I’ve written numerous essays on language in social media and text messaging, but am also part of the generation that uses it consistently in day-to-day life. Therefore, I feel my opinion is informed enough to offer a contrasting perspective, as I find Mr. Gopnik’s apparent ignorance on the matter alarming.

I simply cannot understand how Mr. Gopnik can say “the transformational effect they [technological devices and social media] have on our lives is … quite minimal”. On the contrary, I believe text messaging and social media have had tremendous effects not only on how we live, but also how we …show more content…

Unlike Mr. Gopnik, I would be lying if I referred to myself as “smartphone-loving” or claimed I have a Twitter account—I’m afraid merely checking my email and reading the news online are the upper limits of my internet capabilities. But what I do have is grandchildren, and as I have observed, Twitter and online chatting in general is simply destroying the beauty of the English language and replacing it with a multitude of abbreviations and slang. On the internet, a fast reply which makes you sound cool is more important than a well-written one with correct spelling and grammar. The issue has deteriorated so much that ‘textspeak’ has transferred from online to real life, and to my horror you may often hear young people today say “LOL” instead of actually laughing, or “hashtag YOLO” instead of something which sounds remotely …show more content…

Gopnik states, “it creates a dependency without ever actually addressing a need.” As a teacher, every year I realise more and more that students today have become reliant on using spell-check to write their essays—or rather to type them. A few taps into Google and they can find the answers they need without actually learning anything. Though these methods may seem faster and more convenient, I remember quite clearly writing every assignment, essay, and test by hand and getting up and flicking through a dictionary or textbook when I needed to; using technology in schoolwork is certainly not a need, but rather a shortcut. It is the habit created by reliance and overuse of technology which causes not only deterioration of spelling and penmanship in today’s youth, but also laziness and taking for granted having everything for by doing

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