Phones and computers' effect on reading and writing skills

Some people think that using mobile phones and computers has a negative effect on young people’s reading and writing skills. To what extent do you agree or disagree?

Digital devices such as phones and computers have been adopted worldwide, to the point where everybody now has at least one digital accessory that they use every day. However, some people, especially older generations, are of the opinion that this widespread adoption of technology is detrimental to the reading and writing proficiency of young people. Nonetheless, data shows that this is hardly the case.

The theory that as technological literacy increases, proficiency in other skills decreases is quite prominent. Many people feel that as children and teenagers become addicted to their mobile devices, the development of valuable skills such as reading comprehension and creative writing is neglected. This is amplified by the fact that an alarming number of publications and social networks nowadays only care about the pure amount of clicks and views they can generate, and thus churn out meaningless, poorly-written posts and articles that are only designed to do just that - generate views. Hence, not only are reading and writing skills are not developed, they are actively made worse due to the consumption of bad content.

Nevertheless, this theory loses credibility somewhat when we look at the bigger picture. In many countries, the literacy rate is higher than ever before, and the amount of well-written books and articles have also increased significantly, albeit alongside poorly-written ones. Advances in user-friendly, accessible technology have made both learning and teaching easier, and people are becoming more and more well-educated as a result. Consequently, we can conclude that while there are admittedly some downsides to the heavy usage of mobile phones and computers, the overall impact it has on reading and writing skills is mostly positive and beneficial.

To summarize, though some people may think that the widespread adoption of devices like phones and computers negatively impacts reading and writing proficiency, this can be disproved when we look at the wider effect digital gadgets has had, especially regarding education.

(Band 6.5-7)