WRFH/Radio Free Hillsdale 101.7 FM - Grammar Minute: Is Social Media Harming Our Writing Skills?

Episode Date: January 22, 2025

Social media is once again a hot-button topic after the TikTok ban. Learn more about its possible effects on our writing skills in today's episode of Grammar Minute!

Welcome to the Grammar Minute, where we're saving the English language 60 seconds at a time. I'm Lauren Smith, and we've all heard it said that texting with bad grammar gives us sloppy writing habits. But what is social media doing to our writing skills? I'd argue it has two effects. Firstly, and beneficially, social media can make reading a more popular pastime. I'm not talking about things like book talk or hashtag bookstagram. I'm talking about how captions, text posts, and so on force the viewer to read, usually at high speed, which can actually be a really good exercise for the brain.

The downside is, of course, that the viewer doesn't have to remember any of it, which means that social media content can also be terrible for the attention span and memory, as we all already know. To reap the benefits of social media, learn to look out for grammar errors, read carefully, quiz yourself on what you've seen, and of course don't spend all your time on the gram. That's your Grammar Minute. Visit thegrammerminut.com for more tips and tricks. Thank you.