In Clive Thompson's article "The New Literacy" he explains how technology is creating a new generation of writing. Back in the day people rarely wrote anything outside of class, unless it had to do with class they pretty much wrote nothing. He talks about Andrea Lundsford a professor at Stanford University, she did a project to see how technology affects students academic writing. What she found was that students are writing ALOT more outside of class now than ever before, and that they are not using their texting or email language in the academic writing that they are creating. Thompson explains how students today enjoy writing more today because they get to write to an audience that they want to write too. At school they have to write to one person and that is the teacher. But when they write outside of school they can write to whom ever they please. Students can write what ever they want as well, its not just about a specific topic like they would have to do in a class assignment.
In my own opinion I believe that technology is killing our ability to right. Its not that it is affecting our academic writing, but it is teaching us other things about writing, and to me it is creating a whole new level of procrastination. Having all the new social networking devices, makes me not want to write a whole 5 page essay, I would rather chat with my friends on Facebook or Myspace. Where before they had technology students would write their essays then go do something. But since the internet has become so easy to access my 8 year old cousin even knows how to use it.