Technology and typos: The battle between the generations

Recently, I've experienced at least a handful of faux pas on the behalf of what I assume were millennial mistakes - calling me Laura or Miss Wiegle, not understanding what a "commission" means (do you have a dictionary?), and completely leaving out the name of an entity written in my post. In all three instances, I'm sure the offenders were in their 20's, an age when both the mind and body are more agile. I remember being 23 and stewing over whether or not I'd put my quotation marks on the right side of the period.

In 2017, though, I rarely get the sense that millennials care as much about typos and grammatical errors as I did. On the flip side, they care very much about apps, social media, and the latest smartphone flavor. I recently conducted a job interview on Skype, for which I was thankful, but in the coming weeks I completely blew it when I didn't know how to fix my microphone. I ended up looking like a ludite (which I am not) in front of the thirtysomething filmmaker I was interviewing.

My brother said a while back that we're at the perfect age on the technological scale - young enough to quickly adapt to technology, but old enough not to become addicted. I'd like to let my millennial readers absorb that for a moment. For that matter, seniors need to think about this as well.

While it's true that many seniors are more tech-savvy than some younger people -- i.e. my dad gave me my first computer, first iPad, etc. -- predominantly, younger people are pushing the way forward. It's important for people my age and older to be open to change, not tethered to our typewriters and quill pens. Yet, while we're being adaptable, our sons and daughters must stop texting for an evening and blow off the dust on "Huckleberry Finn".

I recently worked a holiday job at a popular bookstore, and when I asked one of my coworkers whether a certain magazine sold well or not, I was in for an earful. I found out that typically these days, magazines aren't selling as well as they once did. She said many of the magazines have to go back to distributors. This made me sad! I graduated from college in 1985 hoping to set the world on fire as either a magazine writer or a TV scriptwriter. I was thrilled when I got an internship at San Francisco Magazine.

Because of my age and print experience, I'm fond of correct grammar, less fond of hyperbole and cliché, and completely sickened by sloppy writing. I must admit that if someone calls me Laura or Miss Wiegle (though the latter is, of course, hilarious), it's a t.u.r.n.o.f.f. I was schooled on double-checking spellings, especially people's names!

Technology is the culprit for millennials' sloppiness, I'm convinced. Staring at a small screen for hours on end is not only damaging to the eyes, but destructive on many other levels including snipping away at one's attention span.

So hey, millennials - yes you! Put down that phone. I don't care about your Snapchat. And just because you ate a nice tuna casserole doesn't mean everyone has to see it on Instagram. Although yeah, I too am guilty of posting too many photos and checking in with people who call themselves "friends" but are in reality, just people I was told I'm related to.

Photo: Courtesy of Wikimedia Commons Images. "Statesmen No.537: Caricature of Mr Thomas Power O'Connor MA MP."Feb. 25, 1888; Vanity Fair. Digitized version from : darvillsrareprints.com; Author - "Spy"; Leslie Ward (1851–1922) Link back to Creator infobox template wikidata:Q920924