Are today’s teenagers annoying, pouting selfie-sharers – or expert wordsmiths? — theguardian.com

Social media muddles/distorts/ruins young minds, we are told. I’m sure to some extent this is true. But, ever keen not to turn into the kind of what-is-the-world-coming-to old fart I don’t want to be, I see positives. Connectivity, one would hope, is generally a good thing, be it virtual or physical. What I really like about it all, though, is that the written word is now more important, for teenagers especially, than it has been in my lifetime. When I was a kid in the last century, I rarely wrote down anything outside school. I kept a daily diary for about a week, wrote the odd letter or postcard, and that was that.

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