Balcom Agency

The photo above shows the top terms being posted on Twitter immediately after the Lakers won the NBA Finals. If you don't know how to read a tag cloud, the larger a word appears the more people have posted it. Thousands and thousands of people posted "congratualtions" — far less people actually posted the correct spelling.

There are many arguments on how technology is making society collectively dumber, and many of them are valid. The information super highway that promised us the immediate ability to broaden our horizons and educate ourselves on countless subjects ironically did the exact opposite. It made us more vain and self-centered. We spend hours and hours updating our statuses and photos; we use the internet as a communications tool and demand instant gratification instead of taking the time to use it as a learning tool. This argument is detailed in Mark Bauerlein's book "The Dumbest Generation: How the Digital Age Stupefies Young Americans and Jeopardizes Our Future (Or, Don't Trust Anyone Under 30)"

Part of me believes that this is essentially the same argument as "TV will rot your brain!" or "You kids turn off that Rock 'n Roll music, it's the devil!" — simple generational bickering. But I can't write it off that easily. There is no doubt in my mind that grammatical standards are slipping. Twitter and Facebook are packed with grammatical and style errors (txt msgs r 2, u know).

I'd like to know what you think. Old or young, please add your input in the comments field below.

You're dismissed.