Baby Boomers, Social Media and Writing
When I was in school, I spent many hours on essays, speeches, reports and exams where my results depended on my ability to express my thinking in writing. Most Baby Boomers took grammar classes until their last years of high school. Results had deductions for bad spelling and poor grammar. Not all Baby Boomers are comfortable writing blogs or articles but most know the basics the grammar and spelling necessary to write letters and messages.
The other day we were watching “Are You Smarter than a Fifth Grader”. Two of the questions were grammar questions and as Baby Boomers we looked at each other and went pardon, where did that definition come from. The grammar taught today is definitely different. But does the grammar make people better writers and communicators?
Baby Boomers have been publishing on-line for years. Many are well known. They are still influencing the way writing appears but with the over 40s representing nearly 50% of the population, which grammar will be used on social media?
Will the Baby Boomers enforce their standards of grammar and spelling or will they change to meet current levels of writing?
Our belief is that Baby Boomers will have an impact. They may not be using Social Media to the same extent as the younger people. Baby Boomers may still have reservations about Social Media but it connects them. And connection is important. Baby Boomers are still the largest participants in talk back programmes and Social Media represents another way to talk back.
Interesting times are coming. Baby Boomers are becoming a part of Social Media. They know how to write and spell and the question is, will they raise the quality of the writing or will we continue to degenerate into more txtspk, spelling that reflects how it sounds than how it is spelt and grammar that sounds funny except perhaps to the rappers and boppers of this world?
What do you think will happen?
And as an aside, the spell check and grammar programmes do not get it right all the time. You still need to know grammar and spelling rules to say get across what you mean, even when it means “breaking” the rules.
Roberta is a keynote speaker, facilitator and mentor. You can find her through http://www.budvietas.com which links to her blogs, articles, ebooks and speaking.
I can’t help but believe that boomers will in time embrace social media. When you have time, during retirement, you look for things to do and the differing social media sources presents a good way for people to express themseves. I noticed that as we age, we become less inhibited about our opinions, so providing feedback should only come natural.