The Auto-Correct Generation

     In class, we read through a writing sample from a high school English student who was asked to take a stand on whether or not killing was ever justified.  The assignment was to include evidence from the novel Of Mice and Men, which he did not do, but he did include his own Internet research.  The problem is that the sheer accessibility of information available at his fingertips compelled him to list off facts and statistics as if they were common knowledge, not even bothering to give a single citation.  While this irresponsible use of online material was disturbing, I was even more perturbed by the low quality of his writing, which reminded me of another pitfall of our increasing reliance on technology. 

     Last year, one of my friends on Facebook posted the following article from BBC News: http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/education-18158665.  The author cites a study conducted on 2,000 British adults in which the participants were asked to give the spelling of various words.  The results were discouraging: despite the nearly ubiquitous claim that proper spelling is important, two-thirds of the participants noted their reliance on spell-checking software, and without spell-check to aid them, most of them botched the spelling of common words like “necessary” and “definitely.”  Looking online, I now see that this study has been cited by other news agencies and has even been repeated by some, including a report from New York that showed similar abysmal results when Americans were tested instead: http://www.nydailynews.com/blogs/pageviews/2012/05/spell-checker-is-turning-us-into-dolts.

     Personally, I’m glad that spell-check exists.  If I ever doubted my spelling of a word in the past, I would seek out a dictionary and look the word up before continuing.  Now, I can attempt to spell the word on my own first and receive a notification if I’m incorrect.  I would actually argue that there is educational value in sounding out a word and attempting to construct a spelling for yourself rather than simply letting a dictionary do all the work for you.  Take the risk instead, and learn from your mistakes.

     I do, however, take issue with auto-correct.  It’s one thing to spell a word incorrectly and receive a list of suggested revisions; it’s quite another for the computer to correct the word on your behalf with no notification whatsoever.  This software allows people to type away in blissful ignorance of their own spelling mistakes, and when these mistakes are repeated over time, they eventually become habit.  The studies already show how much damage this has done to adults’ spelling, and these folks were raised using dictionaries.  If that’s the case, I shudder to think of how the world will look when today’s children come of age.  Twenty or thirty years from now, will the auto-correct generation be able to spell anything without electronic assistance?