Facebook claims that the written word is dying

[Kumabjorn]

Are we at a point where our grandchildren won't be literate? Facebook makes a claim that text is disappearing. I guess they have some hard facts to make such a claim, and even if it will take up forward five or eight generations, will new technology come with illiteracy as a consequence? Please discuss. (Makes me feel like I'm in a pulpit.)

Twitter is to communications as haiku is to literature.

[Nate the great]

link?

[meeera]

Nope.

http://www.newyorker.com/books/page-...a-new-literacy

More:

http://news.stanford.edu/news/2009/o...ch-101209.html

[DiapDealer]

I'm sure some of our grandchildren WILL be illiterate. But it won't be because text and/or the written word has disappeared from society. It wil be because of the usual reasons that haven't changed for centuries.

[eschwartz]

I can only assume that Facebook is basing their claim on their own internal data, which is obviously biased as their service specifically targets the worst offenders against the written word.

Which as the above-linked study suggests, does not necessarily mean those people (most of them) are actually that bad.
It just means that Facebook is the absolute last source I would trust to know what they are talking about on this matter.

And I am sure Instagram likewise thinks the written word just isn't as popular anymore.

[DiapDealer]

I have to admit, though: someone who's fluent in animatedgifian can occasionally "say" things more eloquently than the most gifted wordsmith.

[eschwartz]

A picture is (can be) worth a thousand words, yes.

It is the idea that that somehow obsoletes words that drives me crazy about how people communicate these days.
Pictures are good -- therefore let's overuse and abuse them, and use nothing else!

Yes, there are people like that. Fortunately, whatever Facebook thinks those people are not the majority.

[Cinisajoy]

Originally Posted by DiapDealer

I have to admit, though: someone who's fluent in animatedgifian can occasionally "say" things more eloquently than the most gifted wordsmith.

Thanks Diap, I learned a new word even if I had to read it 3 times.

[DiapDealer]

Without words, most images and shortcuts used to "converse" online would be meaningless. Without the words they evoke, the only images people would be able to "communicate" with would be those of food and genitalia.

It is my opinion that you simply can't "shortcut" the written word out of existence. Even if some people try really hard to do so.

[Phogg]

Originally Posted by DiapDealer

Without words, most images and shortcuts used to "converse" online would be meaningless. Without the words they evoke, the only images people would be able to "communicate" with would be those of food and genitalia.

It is my opinion that you simply can't "shortcut" the written word out of existence. Even if some people try really hard to do so.

Facebook, on the other hand can be banished from one's existence. Generally that's an edifying change.

[Cinisajoy]

Originally Posted by eschwartz

A picture is (can be) worth a thousand words, yes.

It is the idea that that somehow obsoletes words that drives me crazy about how people communicate these days.
Pictures are good -- therefore let's overuse and abuse them, and use nothing else!

Yes, there are people like that. Fortunately, whatever Facebook thinks those people are not the majority.

Welcome back. I missed you.

[crich70]

I'm sure there were those who felt that writing itself was doomed when the printing press came about. In the middle ages when few could read churches would have pictures painted on the walls to illustrate parts of the Bible. It didn't make more people illiterate. It just helped those who couldn't read to get a sense of their world. People write fewer letters on paper now (to the post office's regret) but people do still write letters. They are sent via email instead. Technology changes over time but the need for communication means that writing isn't dying any time soon.

[DiapDealer]

Originally Posted by Phogg

Facebook, on the other hand can be banished from one's existence. Generally that's an edifying change.

Maybe it's an edifying change for someone looking for (or needing) edification. I'm quite tired of the "eliminating social media (whichever one the curmudgeonly crowd currently hates the most) will make the world smarter/better" mantra, myself. Some people are idiots, and some are not. Joining or quitting Facebook doesn't generally de-smarten or un-idiot anyone.

[johnjacobs]

It is somewhere true.

[Cinisajoy]

Originally Posted by johnjacobs

It is somewhere true.

Proof. Sorry cousins don't count. They have always been that way. Facebook just highlights it.