In today’s interconnected world, electronic gadgets have become an increasingly prevalent means of communication. Many contend that this development brings about several negative effects on the younger generation’s reading and writing abilities. While I acknowledge the logic behind this viewpoint, I firmly oppose it for reasons I will outline below.
Granted, opponents of modern gadgets may point to the informality children gained from using the internet. Currently, since online chatrooms are gaining traction globally, adolescents are inclined to follow the trend and join these communities. These chatrooms allow youngsters to freely engage with their friends. Therefore, children tend to develop habits of overusing abbreviations and slang words, which are very informal in real life. To illustrate, teenagers, who are highly influenced by the internet, often use meaningless words such as “bruh” or abbreviations like “lol,” causing confusion for unfamiliar people.
On the other hand, despite the aforementioned drawbacks, I argue that young people can benefit more from utilizing their personal devices. Firstly, using online news platforms could boost adolescents’ reading ability significantly. Such platforms provide teenagers with educational and specialized information about current affairs. Hence, youngsters can expand vocabulary ranges, from basic to professional, while perusing articles about engaging current events. Furthermore, younger generations could also improve their writing expertise by writing blogs on social media. Since this activity requires painstaking preparations and formalities, young people could gradually develop professionalism in writing, which is extremely important in workplaces. For instance, young adults have a higher chance of career progression because employers around the world tend to assess their applicants’ profiles and writing skills through their Facebook posts.
In conclusion, although modern electronic devices present some challenges for teens’ reading and writing skills development, they can also be valuable assets for the young to advance their careers. However, thorough instructions from parents are still necessary for children to leverage technologies beneficially.