“[The younger generation] do desperately want to be able to have emotionally real conversations in text with the people who matter to them.” What came across my mind as I read this line in Gretchen McCulloch’s “We Learned to Write the Way We Talk” were my own experiences with emotionally real conversations. As an introvert and self-proclaimed socially awkward person, communicating through text has become an essential part of my life. You can often find me “LMAOOO”-ing, using emojis, and abbreviating my words from “tomorrow” to “tmrw” when I’m texting. Through text, I am able to communicate more efficiently and expressively with the people I care about.

Moreover, the ease and convenience of accessing digital technology in the 21st century is what I believe allows for the growth of the new writing trends that McCulloch describes in her editorial. The rate at which new conventions are created, becomes popular, and dies down are also results of the digital world we live in today. I sometimes find myself being unable to keep up with these trends. At one point I did not know what “ftw” meant until I Googled it and honestly, I still don’t use it and understand what type of situations I would use it for. This is when I find myself relating to older people’s reactions when they see “words” like “LOL” and “imo.” However, despite the new writing trend, my digital writing changes between conventional and contemporary styles depending on the audience and situation. You won’t catch me “LMAOOO”-ing with adults. Instead, I write conventionally to be polite and respectful with a bit of contemporary elements here and there. Additionally, formal writing situations such as academic papers and research reports require the traditional format while informal writing situations such as texting do not have limitations. To end off: although writing finds its uses everywhere and is an essential skill to have, imho, writing for the above-mentioned formal situations really sucks. On the other hand, on being digital writers… iykyk ;).