How Does Social Media Affect Students’ Writing?
In discussions of social media, one controversial issue has been its effect on students’ writing. On the one hand, educators such as Ruth Campbell argue that social media causes students to write informally. On the other hand, educators such as Andrew Simmons contend that social media actually improves students’ writing because it encourages expression and creativity. My own view is that social media can have a positive effect on students’ writing because it teaches audience awareness.
Ruth Campbell, an education journalist for the Southeast Missourian, argues that as students compose more of their writing on social media, they “become used to leaving out punctuation and using abbreviations.” This
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While many students--males in particular--may not be comfortable sharing emotions directly, Simmons argues that the “emotional distance” of sites such as Facebook encourages a “healthier candor.” I agree that social media has a positive effect on writing in that it encourages candid expression, a point that needs emphasizing since so many people believe that good writing is simply following a set of grammatical rules. Nobody reads because they admire a writer’s use of proper grammar and formal tone; people read because of the emotions the writing elicits. People read because they want to know what others’ think and feel. As E. L. Doctorow put it, “Good writing is supposed to evoke sensation in the reader--not the fact that it is raining, but the feeling of being rained