How Writing Has Affected the World
Thousands of years ago, before written word, people were already communicating with each other in spoken language. When people had the idea of writing down what they were saying is when mankind took another step towards evaluation.
Before there were literally written words, the egyptians used pictures to write out what they had in mind. These were called “Hieroglyphs”. Each hieroglyph had a letter or couple of letters that went with it. For instance a bird that looks similar to an eagle is “A”. People discovered they could write things down and record their words. This was a great achievement, because it made it easier to remember and they could look back on it.
You could send these written things to others, even across the country by messager. This was great, because it could be the exact same as when written down where as a messenger may have forgotten the message. It also left things for us, in the far off future then, things to read, better understanding the past and how people worked and functioned back then. As time passed on, writing perfected itself in different languages with different letters and meanings. It is now a part of everyday life for the average human being. Writing is so important to us that we have classes on it and competitions.
It truly has changed the world. People took knowledge from books and used it as a weapon against their enemies, becoming smarter and understanding the world in a better place. Fictional writing gives people imagination, hopes, and dreams. Encouraging them and teaching them valuable lessons at the same time. Today, people use writing in their everyday life. It isn’t uncommon now for people to want to write a novel, as a goal of theirs.
In fact we just finished up with a something called “NaNoWriMo” which means “National Novel Writing Month” where the goal is to finish writing a novel by the end of the month. Since writing has been around for so long it has evolved through various stages from using long complicated words to now shorting everything down into 4 letter sentences. Some wonder just how writing will change in the future, with the introduction of technology. Things from paper are now being transferred onto computers, where you can write faster and for longer without growing tired or having your hands become tired or have to be worried about the amount of paper you take up, or how sharp your pencil has to be to make it the clearest to write. Teachers and many others are now questioning if we should be teaching young children how to type properly instead of write in cursive.
It is clear to us that writing has changed us and will continue to change us. For better? I cannot say. We can only hope that the younger generations understand the background of writing and just how very important it is. Work Cited “Ancient Egyptian Hieroglyphic Writing.” Hieroglyphics Ancient Egyptian Writing and Alphabet Translator Write Your Name. N.
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2012. htm>. “How Writing Changed the World.” How Writing Changed the World. N.p. , 15 Dec. 2011. Web. 03 Dec. 2012. essayforum.com/writing-feedback-3/writing-changed-world-34538/>. “TED Conversations.” Should Cursive Writing Be Required in Schools? N.p. , n.d. Web. 03 Dec. 2012. ted.com/conversations/15175/should_cursive_writing_be_requ.html>. “The Purpose of Storytelling – The Evolution of a Viewpoint.” Serendip Studio. N.p., n.d. Web. 03 Dec. 2012.
