An interesting interview with Dennis Baron, author of A Better Pencil. The introduction includes this:
His thesis is clear: Every communication advancement throughout human history, from the pencil to the typewriter to writing itself, has been met with fear, skepticism and a longing for the medium that’s been displaced. Far from heralding in a “2001: Space Odyssey” dystopia, Baron believes that social networking sites, blogs and the Internet are actually making us better writers and improving our ability to reach out to our fellow man. “A Better Pencil” is both a defense of the digital revolution and a keen examination of how technology both improves and complicates our lives.
This seems like the right direction of thinking. I don’t have any evidence to back this up, but it seems like the average person is doing more writing today than they did in recent memory. Even short little bursts like comments on blogs, notes on Facebook and status updates on Twitter can compel somebody to consider word choice. With the greater visibility (even if, as a blogger say, you only have seven readers), you’ll want your words to make sense and be engaging so you don’t look like an idiot (and have your stuff appear on Failblog).