Modern Day Composition

Just a thought that came into mind a couple of days back which I had meant to commit it to writing but haven't done up 'till now.

Y'know, I remember when I was in primary school, the class would be stuck with a pen and a piece a of paper trying to compose 150 word essays within the hour. It was all smudges from cheap , and tears, and cross-outs. But I got along with the 'pen system' just fine and made less mistakes over time, and I could produce beautiful works of composition.

Time machine yourself to the future. I'm my word power has seemingly decreased, I'm unable to finish my sentences that issues forth from my mouth, and I blabber nonsense more than ever, and I can't find the right word at the right time. What happened? Have I grown up? Am I getting so old that I'm starting to lose brain cells faster than it can be replenished?

Up until recently, I had thought I was going nuts. I struggled to repair the damage to my communication skills and vocabulary via reading books medieval and mystical in nature; fantasy books if you will. I wrote down every word that I didn't know and looked it up in the dictionary, and logged it down on my iBook. Eventually, I had managed to bring my vocabulary up to scratch. So, no, my brain cells weren't dying at an accelerated pace. But it still doesn't answer the question... What happened? Why did I lose my ability to communicate clearly and concisely?

I came across the answer when I was composing a letter for my girlfriend(not a letter to her, but a letter to someone else for her) with my sister. The going was tough, and there were cross-outs across the whole sheet of paper on which we were working on. We couldn't get one line on the letter right. Sentences were all hopelessly mixed up and incomprehensible when read as a paragraph. Then it dawned on me... was my ability to communicate and write affected by the availability of Microsoft Word?

Lets revisit my past for the answers. Time to step back into that time machine again and take a trip back to Nostalgia Lane. When I was in Melbourne Uni, I pretty much threw away the pen and paper in favor of Microsoft Word when it came to composition. The ability to 'cut and paste' enraptured me, and I could easily make corrections to my mistakes. I had made minimal effort in essay preparation pre-composition, thinking that I could just up and go at it, and cut and paste it later if it didn't fit right. And I also became highly dependent on the thesaurus as a quick solution to my version of writers block. So yes, I think that my ability to communicate was adversely affected by modern technology meant to increase productivity.

Just to cap it off, if I could be so easily adversely affected by Microsoft Word, should I stop using it? Or should I simply be more careful when I use it? Being in the age where using a word processing program is almost essential to my work life, I think that the first solution is simply inapplicable. So, for me, its time to go back to the basics and regrow those old roots that I had for writing. Time to go back to using planned skeletons and foundations for every composition that I write or type.

Another thing that begs an answer: Why do women like talking to men while they're in the toilet?