A survey carried out in Norway and released by the University of Stavanger found that 40% of the students tested, after dedicating themselves to digital writing, lost their ability to write manually within a year.
Do you have people in the family? Are you intrigued by the way they communicate? Do you think this way of expressing yourself could compromise their career, development and professional future? This text is for you to reflect and, perhaps, dispel these concerns a little.
End of vacation. 1960. Back to school. First day between the sadness of returning and the joy of reuniting with friends, especially the Fundão group, always more lively. And, to no one’s surprise, the essay proposed by the teacher: “My vacation”.
The year came, the year went and history repeated itself. It wasn’t a lack of creativity on the part of the master, certainly not. What those young women didn’t lack was inspiration for their classes. Perhaps the objective was to make ourselves aware of what we had done, even, sometimes, having done nothing.
Writing with little to say
Most were from poor family backgrounds and rarely left the city where they were born. Therefore, vacations were the repetition of what they already did on a daily basis. With the difference of having no task, no commitment to getting up and going to school. And many said exactly that in their texts.
There were, however, those who traveled to a nearby, almost border town. There they made fun of someone. For this reason, from time to time they sent and received letters. These correspondences already indicated a rudimentary effort at written expression, albeit sporadic.
Is the writing really worse?
I shared this personal experience to counter recent research stating that some young people do not know how to express themselves. The news published by one of Turkey’s main newspapers, Türkye Today, states that people born between the end of the 1990s and the beginning of 2010 grew up with a keyboard in their fingers, therefore, they lost the ability to write by hand.
Despite certain advances in the training of young people, there remains a gap in the way they communicate. His scribbled writing resembles that of someone who has only attended school for a few months.
Between social networks and handwriting
The data is curious. A survey carried out in Norway and released by the University of Stavanger found that 40% of the students tested, after dedicating themselves solely to digital writing, lost their ability with manual writing in just one year.
The cause of this deterioration is, in many cases, the compulsive use of. Most of the time, they write with concise sentences and abbreviated words. Another significant fact are texts without cohesion and logical structure.
Times have changed, young people have changed
This is a truth that needs to be observed carefully and from its different facets. Can anyone from previous generations, who are now over 50/60 years old, say that at the age of these young people they had more knowledge, resourcefulness and wisdom?
I see for myself. I have granddaughters of all ages. When I remember what I was like when I was their age, I feel like a fool. Access to information was limited. Today, everything is at your fingertips. How much time can be saved!
Writing in everyday life
Nowadays, unlike what happened in the nostalgic era of “Minhas Férias”, young people write several essays a day. They are sending messages to their friends all the time. And they need to make themselves understood, otherwise communication will not be complete.
Thus, they are able to convey complete ideas with a beginning, middle and end. And with the competence that is increasingly required in the times we live in – with objectivity. This ability to say everything in a few words. Then, with daily practice, they can improve, correct errors, avoid mistakes and, if necessary, even expand the texts further.
Just give it time
I also see it in the classroom. I accepted students on the public speaking course only from the age of 17, an age that allowed them to develop themes in greater depth. Over time this age was reduced. Today, I receive young people aged 13/14 who behave wonderfully well in the gallery. Beautiful to see. Exciting even.
Therefore, we should not evaluate this generation Z phenomenon with so much concern in relation to essays and even verbal expression. In the end, in each period people find their way of communicating and meeting the demands of the world. As these young people would say: I hope you also have a great AN. Follow on Instagram: .
*This text does not necessarily reflect the opinion of Jovem Pan.
