The Ecology of Media

Media Ecology is the study of media environments and the concept that technology and communication have a large effect on culture.

Technology has a significant cultural impact, so let’s examine this further by looking at text messaging. Its purpose of it is to be able to communicate quickly, easily and at anytime; however, when we look at the function of text messaging, we see it as something that is used mostly by younger people and is more of a pastime or a social activity.

I think that text messaging has had more of a negative than a positive impact on our culture. I recognize the convenience of text messaging, but I think that typing on a cell phone has had a detrimental impact on language. People are often using abbreviations and acronyms, not to mention the many spelling and grammar errors that are overlooked in text messaging. I have taken many writing classes, and I feel that there is never a time or place where it is acceptable to ignore the grammatical rules of language.

It seems like people make exceptions when it comes to technology because the point is to make everything faster and easier for us, so there is no time to check and edit your message. Well I believe that this has become a problem in our culture and that people should be aware of this. Text messaging has brought down our language skills, and we should work to bring them back up.