Maney 1

Daniel Maney
Raymond
UWRT 1103
15 September 2015
Technology: Ruining the Minds of Youth Today?
The world is constantly evolving around us. New technologies and even the
advancement of older technologies are changing the way that we read and write and even the
way we learn how to do so. Many technologies have helped influence my literacy narrative in a
positive way but and while I do not believe that they have negatively affected the progress of my
narrative; it is obvious that it is impacting some others.
There have been many ways that technology has positively impacted my literacy
narrative. Advancements in computer and smart phone capabilities such as more access to the
Internet, and with the advancements the Internet has become a common place for students and
even regular citizens to go in order to learn more about a specific topic, write essays, even for
playful purposes such as online gaming. It is a much different world than our grandparents were
raised in and even different than how our parents were raised. For example, whenever we need to
know something we jerk out our phones, open the Internet application, go to Google, and search.
However, our parents and grandparents did not have it quite that easy and simple. They would
usually have to research the information in an encyclopedia or a dictionary, and often times
people would not have these resources laying around their house, this would force them to travel
to a local library in search of what they need to know. This just transformed a one-minute task
for the children of today, into a thirty or forty-five minute task that our grandparents and even
some parents had to suffer through. Technology has advanced in a way that has been very

Maney 2
useful to students in the twenty-first century, but has also caused students and the younger
generation to suffer in many different ways, the primary being grammar.
While technology, such as the Internet and cellular phones have progressed, they have
sometimes stunted the progression of the younger generations ability to read and write. The main
example that I can come up with would be the way smart phones and texting have helped limit
young peoples use of vocabulary and has affected their grammar. Shortened phrases such as
LOL used for the phrase Laugh out loud or Ily for I love you, these are just a few
examples. Also, technology has changed the way people spell. An example being tomorrow
shortened to 2morrow or later to l8er. Young peoples grammar is also suffering because
in text messages there is quite often a lack of punctuation. All of these examples raise literary
issues especially in writing; this new age of technology is causing students to submit essays
lacking basic spelling and grammar. I know that in my high school a number of the advanced
teachers would complain about the writing of students in their standard classes saying things like
I had a student use LOL in an essay today or one of my students did not capitalize the start
of a sentence and did not put a period at the end of the sentence. Obviously it was frustrating to
them as I am sure it is to most Literature teachers. The primary culprit for these issues is
technology; it sure is changing the way we think and act but not always is it in such a good way.
These advancements have not really hurt my literacy narrative as much as they have
contributed to it. Most of the time when texting I try to use proper grammar, spelling, and even
correct punctuation including periods and commas. I will admit that I use the term LOL quite
a lot. The new technologies and opportunities have helped contribute to my literacy narrative in
many different ways. For instance, if I want to research something or learn something new it is
literally at the tip of my fingers on my smart phone. Another example would be endless

Maney 3
opportunities that come with the phones downloadable applications from learning tools to social
media, from scientific calculators to mobile banking. I believe that sometimes the younger
generation takes these things for granted but honestly, this progress in technology is allowing
people to become smarter, more efficient, and makes it easier to communicate between one
another, and I believe it has done the same for me and my literacy narrative.
Technological advancements can often present problems in the learning of youth today
but in my case they have not done so. It is up to the specific child to make sure that these
advancements do not compromise their ability to learn how to read and write in a sophisticated
manner. I do not see any problems that technology can cause in ones literacy narrative as long
as that person is dedicated to using these advancements in a proper way.