Why Text Messaging is The Future of English

Speed reading is your secret tool for success.

You and I both know how easy it is to criticize and be judgmental, but we get terminally upset when other folks call us weird. The U.S. is a Christian country, over 92%, so when you challenge believers about their Bible, the imminent return of J.C. or Evolution – watch out. Don’t ask, don’t tell - works for me.

When you read the results of legitimate polls – Gallup, Zogby, or the NY Times,
things begin to get scary. Wait – I am not a scientist, not a conspiracist, but 59% of polled Americans disbelieve in Global Warming.

Uh, in one authentic major poll, 49% disbelieve in Evolution. Right this minute 25%
say they are convinced the new Swiney Flu vaccine is manufactured to kill Republicans.

I saw and heard politicians and citizens at Town Hall meetings say the U.S. government wants to terminate the lives of elderly citizens. The next guy up said, Obama was the reincarnation of Hitler, not a citizen, a Moslem, and …oh forget it.

Last thing – you gotta Google: U.S. Department of Health & Human Resources,
research by NIMA (National Institute of Mental Health). Please believe the next
words you read, subject to connection by Mr. Google.

26.2% (more than one-in-four) U.S. adult citizens suffer from a diagnosed
mental disorder. Like Bipolar (depression) Disorder, Schizophrenia, active
phobias, Panic or Anxiety Disorder, Compulsive-Obsessive Disorder, and
PTSD - Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (Veterans).

Wait – that means in our population of 306 million, 80,172,000 are not of
sound mind and disposition. Do it like this – in a group of four folks talking, one
of you has serious mental problems.

Look around; statistics are trying to tell us something about the average Joe and Jane. Not you or me of course.

Some Simple Facts

We can read four times faster than we can speak. Cursory writing (connected
letters) is twice-as-fast as Printing letters. Cursory is from Latin – cur means to
run, also means quick, brief.

So What

The newest generation presently in elementary school to sixth grade, do not know
how to write (cursory) in English, have difficulty in Printing, and are atrocious
in spelling. This is not crying – “the new generation is getting dumber, and only
the older generation won the prize for all the brains.”

Some teachers are not bothering to teach cursory writing, printing, and the
rules of spelling. Why? Students use their word-processors and type, and
rely on Text-Messaging abbreviations. From 1968 to 1998, spelling skills declined
up to 40%.

Did you know there are 6,500 spoken languages, and old 200 have written language?

Professor William Crossman

He teaches at Berkley City College in California, and has a website called 2050.
Dr. Crossman says by the year 2050, reading and writing will be obsolete.
What will replace it? Hypertalk (texting) and ViVo (voice-in, voice-out) – talking
computers. Nut case? Not likely.

NASA

Believe it and then go Google it. NASA has created a program to translate your
silent thoughts. “NASA develops system to computerize silent thinking.” The date
was March 17, 2004. It has been improved since then, and used for stealth spying.

You do not have to mumble or move your lips, the government software points and
clicks, and reproduces your thoughts. Forget the privacy issues, it will be a future
computer program to communicate with your associates and friends.

10,000 Years Old

Writing and reading is only 10,000 years old. Written language started as Cuneiform in Mesopotamia, present day – Iraq. Humans have been around for
at least a couple of million years, and without reading and writing until recently.

Webster’s dictionary have over one-million words in English, but the average
person lives using 5,000 words. College educated folks, like school teachers have a
comprehensive vocabulary of up to 40,000 words.

NASA Again

“Small sensors are stuck under the chin and gather these nerve signals, and send them to a simple processor. The results are digitized and saved by already existing computer hardware and software.” Our subvocal speech is then converted to aloud
speech, written text, or sign languate.

Text Messaging

There are presently 1,100 text abbreviations for text messaging. It is fast because it
uses acronyms (initials instead of words), and icons and symbols.

Examples: NSISR (not-sure-if-spelled right), NVM (never-mind!), 2G2BT (too good to be true). My favorites are ALOL (actually Laughing out Loud) and <3 – it stands for an icon of a Heart. Twist your head and see the heart symbol.

Endwords

Fact: about 50% of all matriculating students entering college will not earn a
degree. Some will graduate in six-years after they drop-out or are asked to leave
the first time.

In the 1,200 U.S. Community Colleges with six million attending students, only about 550,000 earn a 2-year degree. How come?

Information-Overload, the students do not have the skills to handle complex
text material, and keep up with their assignments. Soon it gets backed up, and
there is no catching up. What-to-do.

This is not a commercial, but students read, comprehend, and remember, like
a snail moving across the road. Average student reading of college text is about 100-175 words per minute. It’s like driving your car on the highway at 30 miles per hour
in a 60 mph posted area.

What if they could quickly learn to read-and-remember three (3) books, articles, and reports in the time their snailing peers can hardly finish one?

Ask us how to triple your reading speed, and double your long-term memory.

See ya,

copyright © 2009
H. Bernard Wechsler

Author's Bio: 

Author of Speed Reading For Professionals, published by Barron's. Business partner of Evelyn Wood, creator of speed reading, graduating 2 million, including the White House staffs of four U.S. Presidents.