In Defense of Proper English and Writing in the Age of Smartphones

I'm going to try to be reasonable and realistic here. I understand the times and the age in which we all live. I will, however, make a simple argument and, hopefully unsurprisingly, complain about what someone once said to me about my writing habits.

So, one day a friend with whom I'm still currently angry (this friend has actually inspired several of my rants — I bet you wish you knew who it was) asked me, over instant messaging on Gmail, why I always write correctly and correct typos. I was, of course, offended by this. I found it to be a) a stupid question, b) a worthless discussion, c) an unwarranted judgement, and d) a waste of time.

This friend's opinion was that because it was informal writing and because she is smart, I do not need to write properly because she can figure it out if a mistake was made, punctuation is missing, etc. She apparently thought that me writing correctly while instant messaging was somehow pretentious or pompous or something. I wrote back that writing correctly is simply what I do, what should be done, and what should be everyone's only option and habit. 

Therefore, my argument is this: We should all write properly all the time. 

Is it really that much more work? I think you can do it. It is actually more work for you if I force you to constantly decipher and infer meaning from my lazily written messages. I will say, however, that I don't really mind if you don't write properly and use modern shorthand techniques in informal settings like social media and texting (though these too require formal writing from time to time). And, yes, it may save some time. But, remember that you are forming something of a habit and you may have to really check yourself when you are writing in formal situations.

Let's not forget that our smartphones and tablets are computers with Internet access. So, if you aren't sure about a punctuation or grammar rule, look it up. This website is my go-to: https://www.grammarbook.com/

Finally, remember that we are judged by how we write. Social media is our ever-important image that we must maintain for many people in our lives, but our professional emails, cover letters, résumés, college essays, and other pieces of writing serve as our image for the other people in our lives — the people who sometimes make important decisions that affect our lives and our futures. People usually see how you write before they meet and see you. This is important for us to bear in mind.

I'll close by saying this: If you're going to break the rules of proper writing, at least know the actual rules first.