What grade level R U writing @?
One of the things Americans have accomplished thus far in the twenty-first century is identifying their capacity for mental laziness.
Think about it.
Yeah, I know thinking hurts. Go take some Tylenol, then come back and think about it.
Human history is a testament to great accomplishments. Fire discovery, the building of pyramids, space travel, music, vaccines, art, architecture, prosthetic limbs, and the list continues.
The computer, however, may be the invention and tool which, above all others, shows us what people are really about.
Many other inventions amplify labor, be it physical or mental. Taking an effort and multiplying it. Creating mechanisms that replicate human physical and mental action and multiplying it. Doing more work with less work as an impetus.
But then we get to the cell phone. A useful device, to be sure, but the value that a lot of you see in it, exploit it for, use it like an addict for?
Texting.
And texting in and of itself isn’t bad or a problem.
It’s the mangling of our language performed at the hands of most of you texters, done with reckless abandon.
So instead of “for” we get “4”, and “@” for “at”, and 2” for “to” or “too” or maybe even, wait for it… “two”
Next thing up is the excuse for being lazy and illiterate.
“It’s faster.”
“I don’t have the time.”
Let me ask you a question:
What the hell are you doing?
No, really. What are you soooooooooooooooooo busy doing that you can’t type out a two letter word like “to” but you can type out a number like “2”?
It’s not about time, because you don’t know how to prioritize time. You don’t know the difference between what’s important and what’s not.
That’s why you walk around, and instead of looking forward, you’re looking down and you’re texting. You’re crossing the street, and you’re texting, idiot.
When that bus crossing Fifth Avenue almost hits your stupid, texting ass, you look, either unfazed or feeling as if that bus driver had some nerve almost hitting you while you text some fool about what some other fool said about you, fool.
And you motorists aren’t any better. It’s gotten so bad that President Obama had to sign an order banning Federal employees from texting while driving government-owned vehicles and equipment.
Obama should sign another order banning all motorists from texting.
So everyone has their head in their displays instead of their eyes on their destinations.
Yeah, you think I’m a silly bitch, don’t you?
Let me explain the greater ramifications of your laziness.
I mentioned earlier the invention of the computer, and computers operate based on programming.
The human brain is the greatest computer in existence, and whether you believe in The Creator or the caveman, that is still a fact.
Every time you perform an act, be it physical or emotional, you are programming a part of your brain, establishing the pattern. That pattern stays with you and becomes natural behavior.
So you use illiteracy in your texts, and the next thing you know you’re using it in e-mails.
Now you’re not on the move or in a rush. You’re sitting on your butt relaxing, and using lazy language in your e-mails.
Those are social e-mails, but I bet that lazy language will start showing up in your business e-mails, too.
Then we get to the horror of actual writing. Not that most of you write letters on paper with a pen anymore, but most of you work or are in need of work, so you have to fill out applications. Write a paragraph or two on why you’re the perfect person for the job, or write to a person with whom you want to do business, and negotiate your fee or establish your terms.
Here comes the lazy language, or worse, you’re so used to lazy language that you are frozen by the prospect of real language. Either illiteracy slips in or the opportunity for literacy slips away.
And before you know it, u r officially s2pid.
Th@’s th@.
Party over 4 u.
Meanwhile, the rest of us, The Legion of The Literate, will be looking forward to our future when crossing the street instead of looking down at screens.
.
143 Keisha.