When Digital Text Rules, Does Writing Quality Bow?

My children insist on communicating almost entirely via text messages. It allows them to connect at work, at the gym, in restaurants or at parties, when they can't or won't talk on cell phones. If I need to communicate detailed information, I must send an e-mail. The next time you go out to eat, check the neighboring tables and count those where every single person--parents, children, friends and lovers--is silently staring at a mobile device to check e-mail, text, tweet, read Facebook updates, search the Internet, etc. So many of us are in company yet alone--focused on a stream of digital words and pictures. Written communication has become a social necessity, and digital tools have conferred on Everyman the power to instantly influence a wide audience with the written word. Yet I wonder what impact the Digital Age is having on the actual quality of writing and the standards of readers. Are we producing generations fluent only in informal, abbreviated "textspeak" and addicted to shallow word bites? It's interesting to see the results of a 2013 Pew Research Center survey of Advanced Placement and National Writing Project teachers about the impact of digital tools on student writing. On the plus side, some 78% of teachers said digital tools, such as the Internet, social media, and cell phones, "encourage student creativity and personal expression." Definitely, e-mails and social posts require concise, active, colorful language to engage attention spans measured in seconds! But 68% of teachers also said digital tools made students more likely to take shortcuts and not put effort into their writing. And what about written content? Teachers rated students lowest on constructing a strong argument, reading and digesting long or complicated texts, and navigating fair use and copyright. It would seem that despite our expanding digital word power, good writing and clear thinking are still in need of champions. For more on the study, see http://www.pewinternet.org/2013/07/16/the-impact-of-digital-tools-on-student-writing-and-how-writing-is-taught-in-schools-2/