The Future of Technology/Death of the Written Word

With all the new innovations in technology, the droid, the iphone 3G S, the iPad, swivel screen laptops, MP3 players small enough for you to swallow, what will be the next big thing? I think technology is working its way to integrating every type of popular product (MP3, phone, camera, computer) into one device. But what will this device look like? When will these things get too small to use comfortably?

I still find touch screen things really annoying. To me nothing can replace the push of a real button. You get to feel that your fingers are on the right key and you get to push them down yourself, feeling the motion of the key the whole way. With push screen technology, you have the opposite, especially on a small screen like on an iPhone. I don't know if it's that I have incredibly large and unruly fingers or that the iphone's keyboard was designed poorly. There are certain words that just come out wrong each and every time. Most of the time I end up posting something on facebook or text messaging someone with something that doesn't make sense in the slightest.

Which brings me to another point - spell check has been integrated into just about everything, but who says that's a good thing? Sure, for most people who can't spell to save their lives spell check injected into every program they use is a good thing and a good way to eliminate or at least reduce the instances of them making a fool of themselves. Spell check does not, however, make absolutely sure the word you have just put in a sentence is the correct one. I don't know how many times I have seen people post things about "loosing" their keys or a popular sports team "loosing" a game. Can't we create something that recognizes words that are used incorrectly in a sentence?

The biggest one of all is "your" vs "you're". Most people don't even know the difference so they settle on the simple yet elegant "ur" that just waves a big orange flag and declares loudly to the world, "HEY, OVER HERE. I'M A RETARD!" The people that use these 'shorthand' shortcuts are the same that declare stupid shit like, "Oh, I'm too lazy to type out the whole word." Well how fucking lazy do you need to be to forego typing out an entire four letter word in exchange for a two letter abomination? I wonder what else is too difficult and time consuming for these people. Maybe wiping their own asses comes in close to "too much work" and they discontinue it every now and then. "Oh, I don't walk to the bathroom when I need to take a piss. I'm too lazy so I just piss on myself." What these people don't realize is that instead of learning to type through all these small words like "you" they're learning nothing. They're not building any skill, they're not learning to use language effectively, they're just strengthening their laziness and stupidity.

I pretty much think most internet abbreviations that have made their way into our lives are for the detriment of society and they are rapidly killing the written word. In twenty-five years English standards are going to be so hobbled that we will settle on something almost making sense. My biggest irritation with internet abbreviations is they're less straightforward and less expressive than the phrases or actions they replace. "LOL" is the biggest waste of three letters but it's seemed to capture every retard's attention. I believe hahahaha is much more evocative and much more expressive and only requires mindlessly pressing on two keys. The only meaningful and useful computer abbreviation to me is "BRB," or Be right back for those who don't know what this means. That's the "oh damn, I really gotta use the bathroom" abbreviation.

With so many abbreviations and internet bastardizations of the English language, it's hard to see how we are all going to be speaking in the future. It's ironic that today, with words literally everywhere bombarding us with information, we think less and less about language and more and more about convenience and ease.