One of the highlighted things in this chapter is the importance of having good communication. In present day, we live in a world that is considered “post-literate”, meaning that alongside the rise of technology and the internet, reading is not of importance to individuals anymore. Reading is no longer necessary for individuals to learn new information or as a form of entertainment. Instead, the internet and technology has taken the place of reading in both of those areas. Individuals can now look to the internet to instantly consume new information and be entertained by such. What is known as written media (books and literature in general) has now shifted to visual and aural media (watching and listening). A widely known example of this today can be found with audiobooks and e-readers. Instead of sitting down to enjoy a good book, one can do so on the go while driving, eating, etc. Due to this, recognizing and understanding good writing skills such as grammar and etiquette has become far less important than it should be. The issue that lies within this is when we do not learn about the rules of writing, it limits our level of communication and effectiveness in writing. Over time, this has caused generations of students to struggle with the rules of writing; those being concepts such as spelling and grammar. Although this is happening in many educational institutions today due to technology, it has had the opposite effect on the professional world. There is now a heightened need for good communicators and writing skills in the professional world due to the change in media. We can also now understand better what is necessary to have good communication in the professional world. That visual media is able to give us insight into this world and how much of it depends on communication and writing skills.
Another important aspect of this chapter is the idea that there are no shortcuts to having good writing skills. This particular section, although small, stood out to me as important because of how much it really interacts with out daily lives. It gives readers the example of how auto-correct is not always the best when it comes to understandable writing. Auto-correct is a tool that nearly everyone uses in their daily lives, yet do not realize the negative effect it is having. When writing emails to professors or finishing a final paper, auto-correct can not be a dependent tool to check ones writing. This is because more often than not the tool will change words to incorrect meaning or spelling. Due to this, it changes the effectiveness and clearness of ones writing. I have seen this happen many times myself in exchanging emails with other students and even texts to my friends. People too often trust auto-correct to fix what they are trying to convey, and it goes haywire. Trusting a system that cannot see what you are trying to say is a poor method of trying to have clear communication. Instead, it requires one to learn what good writing skills are, in this case spelling and grammar, to be truly effective.
