Before I go on with this blog post, I'd like to give a disclaimer: I am in no way claiming innocence with this very serious issue. I have been a grammar and punctuation offender plenty of times in the past. However, I like to think that I know the time and the place to use text-talk or disregard proper sentence mechanics in the interest of time or based on who is the intended receiver of my message.
I digress.
As I've blogged about before, I have lots of experience using Craig's List. While I am using it to rent out my apartment, I am also using it to sell my furniture. I have multiple pieces of furniture for sale and have been getting a few responses. One in particular stood out:
"Hi I like to c the stuff so if u can ? can u give me call plzz I can b reach at 802-***-**** thans ."
No, I did not edit that (besides blocking out the phone number). Someone actually emailed me that and expected a response.
This may be a stretch, but I think this is an epistemological shift -- from word to image. Although it is not an actual image, but still words, they much more represent an image than anything close to words. Since when was "c", "u", "plzz", "b" and "thans" added to the dictionary? When I read this, or tried to read this, I was flabbergasted. I thought and expected that people know when there should be a certain level of professionalism. The way this person (I don't even know if they were male or female since they didn't sign a name) wrote to me, I didn't see words but rather an image of a very unmature and ignorant person for writing in such a manner to a complete stranger through email.
This is another good example of social construction of reality. The reality is the way this person writes. What I can only assume to be their construction of this reality is that they think it's cool, young, and hip. This construction came through their socialization, maybe their friends type that way. My construction of this reality is that it's incredibly unprofessional and inappropriate. My construction came through my socialization of applying for jobs and writing cover letters, etc.
No, I did not edit that (besides blocking out the phone number). Someone actually emailed me that and expected a response.
This may be a stretch, but I think this is an epistemological shift -- from word to image. Although it is not an actual image, but still words, they much more represent an image than anything close to words. Since when was "c", "u", "plzz", "b" and "thans" added to the dictionary? When I read this, or tried to read this, I was flabbergasted. I thought and expected that people know when there should be a certain level of professionalism. The way this person (I don't even know if they were male or female since they didn't sign a name) wrote to me, I didn't see words but rather an image of a very unmature and ignorant person for writing in such a manner to a complete stranger through email.
This is another good example of social construction of reality. The reality is the way this person writes. What I can only assume to be their construction of this reality is that they think it's cool, young, and hip. This construction came through their socialization, maybe their friends type that way. My construction of this reality is that it's incredibly unprofessional and inappropriate. My construction came through my socialization of applying for jobs and writing cover letters, etc.
No comments:
Post a Comment