Use of smartphones, Microsoft word and autocorrector has changed the way youngsters read and write these days. Is technology to be blamed for this or the laziness of our generation, or something else?
I am not an linguist, but a technology user, then i can say that i learn new words and entire vocabularies not only in foreign languages, but also in my own native languages exactly because i use the technologies and i am exposed to more information which comes from many people outside my usual social circle. Of course, i am not a youngster (35), but i think that youngsters are also exposed to such language training more than before. It is another issue when, how, in front of whom, they will reveal their linguistic abilities. Do not forget that young people love to upset the old ones by using their own slang, abbreviations and youth culture meaning, not known, accessible or acceptable by adults or people older than 30...
Its just another step in development, I'd say. Before typing machines started to be widely available, it had been quite common to have beautiful handwriting skills. It was even one of basic conditions how to get better job (it isnt from my personal experience .-)))))).
I dont think the reading is influenced much by smartphones and e-books.
The usage of autocorrector for typing might be different, because it isnt so important to know grammar rules by heart and to train brain to use them when required.
Possibility of text editor to remove and repair mistyped word/character is at least dubious. It speeds work greatly. But it might lead to less concentration on the content. One thought twice about every word nowing that mistake would mean to rewrite at least one A4 page by hand.
Current trend here is not to teach kids continuous handwriting, but something like printed characters. In theory it might have sense for the future, because it might allow better filling of forms.
However our Ministry of Education realised several total educational disasters already, so thi might be just another case. (we use "i" and "y" here and one of ideas was to unify it just to single character. It failed because nobody was able to decide which one of them should have been universal one).
Just a sample of above mentioned. CZ "bít" means "to beat" in EN. CZ "být" means "to be" in EN. And there is no way how to distinguish them by pronunciation. Thus famous Hamlet's quote might be either "To be or not to be, that is a question!" or "To beat or not to beat, that is a question!".
Absolutely yes, in my view. But this is based only on my personal interests and experience (not based on scientific references), so I don't know if this can help.
Good work!
Alberto
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