Rewriting Literature

Anyone who knows me, knows I love to read. The UPS guy regularly delivers me some new "friends" each month with the return address of Barnes & Noble. There is nothing quite like reading a book that grabs your attention so well that you hate to put it down and are even sad when it is over.
When I saw this cartoon in Sunday's paper, at first I laughed, but then thought a little more about how we are changing history with technology. Ask any English teacher out there and they will tell you that texting is ruining kids spelling and grammar skills. They are so used to communicating in their shorthand version, when they have to actually write a paper or a letter, they have difficulty.
I am not totally a dinosaur, however, and I do see some good coming from texting. It is a very convenient way to communicate with people, although you cannot convey as much emotion as you can by actually speaking to someone (voice inflection, tone, etc). I have a friend who's daughter never answered her phone. She would leave many messages and rarely get a return phone call. I suggested she text her and see how that worked. They now text each other several times a day and my friend feels she is more in touch with her daughter's daily life.
With all progress comes both good and bad. The trick is to figure out a way for it to make your life better, happier, fuller. Doesn't that sound like a good idea?