I thought the Newsweek article was very interesting. Although it was written in 1975, it echoes many of the complaints about today’s youth and their literacy abilities. The complaints of then seem to point the blame to the modern technology of their time just like the complaints today blame technology like video games and social media. In 1975 teachers of literacy pointed to Television and the simple literacy found on it as a source for the declining literacy seen in the youth. The article also suggested the only way to better one’s writing was by reading. The “correct” literacy that these professors push towards is standard english and it seems to me that any literacy other than standard english is seen in a negative light.
The fact that the argument is basically the same then as it is today raises some interesting questions. First and foremost, is the literacy rate really declining at the rates suggested in the article? To me if they were actually declining at the rates claimed, then we should be a practically illiterate generation by now. We know that this is not the case though. A more interesting question is why does this argument still exist in today’s society? Is it because the older generation fails to recognize and or adapt to the newer literacies of the younger generations? Or that maybe the standards of literacy have changed through the years?
I can’t comment on the validity of the proposed rate in declining literacy, but I can postulate as to why the argument you bring up is still prominent in society. With the advent of any new type of technology that has a user interface, it is inevitable that a divergent form of literacy will develop along with it that is not in accordance with standard English. Individuals who happen to be growing up in the corresponding generation as a given technology will naturally adapt to and adopt said technology and its associated literacy. Conversely, people in the previous generation will not only have trouble learning the new technology, but also will encounter difficulty with that technology’s literacy. This creates a generational gap not only in technology, but in literacy as well.
Therefore, I believe the argument you bring up has been so prevalent for so long because this generational gap develops almost inevitably with the advent of any technology, and since technology has been rapidly expanding over the past decade.