2 Fast 4 Us

by Amanda Schroth

Word choice has always been pertinent to me as a writer. I’ve learned how easy it is to say something you don’t mean or to lose the reader’s interest with a boring sentence. In today’s society, with technology allowing us to keep a constant update with the rest of the world, we have to be even more careful with how we phrase our sentences and choose our words.

Texting, Facebook, Instant Messages, the quick, easy responses to keep contact with others is also a dangerous set up. While we do have the opportunity to have a faster paced conversation, we are rushed into our responses, being unable to fully think over our answers. Arguments begin over misinterpretations or unchecked work, the main drawback to the fast technology today.

Writing an essay is no different. Typing on the keyboard makes writing faster, but the art of the sentence and the choice of word are lost. Our fingers can keep up with the thoughts in our mind, but the speed is too fast to perfectly articulate and develop a sentence. With a ninety words per minute typing speed, how is one supposed to create and develop a decent paper? In a world of fast results, the idea of re-reading work or double checking have been considered time consumers. We send texts and Facebook statuses without ever looking twice, a habit that is then forced into any writing opportunity.

And here is where the fast pace world is taking away from the art of Rhetoric and argument. To take a moment and think of the right word has become unnecessary, too slow. But, to spend a moment on finding the exact wording and sentence is the difference between keeping the reader on your side and losing them forever.

Writing an essay, or even a text, is a matter of saying what we mean in a certain way, to get the reader to understand our point of view. Whether an argument is being made or a question is being asked, the choice of words dictates how the reader will interpret what you are trying to say. Yes, the world is fast paced, allowing us to communicate faster than any generation before us. But with that, there is a cost. Taking a moment to sit back and think, to go over the flow of the sentence or the choice of the words will make a larger impact on the outcome than any first-thought response.