>> america a university professor naomi baron is technology changing how we communicate? >> guest: yes and no. there is the assumption that technologies of computers and now mobile phones change the ways that we've right to each other because he supposedly huge use

emoticons and abbreviations that we are not using that many but if maybe if you are using a lot if you are a young teenage girl but these kind of better commonly used and not as many as the press with the dust to believe but what is changing is the ways in which we read or write but our social relationships are changing and all also personal and individual psyches. >> host: walk us through those four things. >> guest: how we read. what is clear what you see on the screen with a laptop or the tablet computers or mobile phone or e-reader you don't do it the same way as a hard copy. that is the subject of the

next book. i am doing research. but you tend to skim or the find function just zeroing in on the word and you look at the little snippet of what was written and ignore the concept. but we do know that when you read a regular web page but instead is the s pater the first line of text you probably read most than a little less by the time you get to the bottom forget about putting anything in the lower right-hand corner nobody will read it. >> host: what did that pattern? think of how the f is made

the long line than the shorter line. reno's the reading that we do on a screen is different from what we do when we surf the web. but if you read on the same kind of device you tend to read whether wuthering heights or biology textbook or the newspaper. and through the term so how do the right? because we're not reading continuous text we are writing shorter and shorter things. we don't want the 90,000 a 100,000 books we want to the shorter stuff so publishers

come out with the stanford shorts. but we are changing the notions of what it means to read and changing the notions of what it means to right. take something without spelling but remember spell check? that does not work with homonyms but we change the notions of free care about spelling. people who use this technology don't care about punctuation. i did a study of instant messaging for example, and people don't care about randomly use punctuation no. if you want to ask questions the use it question mark but

this statement does not happen period if you have to sentences you put the period if after the first but not the second because that is the end of the transmission. there are patterns but not taught of course, cool. >> host: computer programs you only have to space twice it is automatic. >> that is of the iphone but one of the things that is happening we change the notion of what it means to be an author. they're making is right with the mes to but that we have a greater sense of being informal in people don't really care if we make mistakes. with no one to look like fools but we no longer judge if we get punctuation wrong were spelling wrong of the

grammatical mistake because the assumption is you read it once and it is gone. but we don't feel this is durable tangible long-lasting text that somebody says she made a mistake. >> host: "always on" what about the what of her generation? >> a term i came up with because i have been teaching at universities for a long time and i had to listen to students a few years back whenever whenever you ask a question. or people would figure out where do you want to go for lunch? i don't care, but never. that is the attitude that i see developing with writing that we don't think it matters how we right to.

so what do i mean it doesn't matter? if you don't believe somebody would read what you write if you make mistakes it is okay but it gets a little dicey. it used to be argued there were standards of grammar and how you were perceived by the people depended upon if you use grammar correctly. when i first guarded teaching i said what you do and i better watch my grammar. they don't say that to me any more. they say that's cool. because we have a sense the rules of language jolt matter so much.

and his or her hand or their hand there is a plural i was raised to believe there are rules of language. how do know what people know the linguistic competence so i knew everybody who is a native speaker of the language has of level of comfort knows the difference between what is the medical and what isn't. this is a we have worked with for many decades. and so to reason -- raise

their hand but they say what ever. why are you hung up? is the matter but then you say okay but just for the record which is correct? they say i don't know. so the whole model we had from the linguistic profession as what counts a standard bank which were a dialect that people don't care as much because language has become far more informal we right the way we speak and said if thinking it has to be corrected and formal, we're right things the way we speak and increasingly informally and it doesn't matter to us anymore. of the new technology for communicating instant messages, said chats, blocks , taxing our great avenues for not caring

because you think nobody will look at this again anyway. >> host: professor do put a value judgment on the way we read or write? >> guest: if i was being a good win question would say language changes but here is where we need to think twice. if you don't have a love of the language or appreciation for the possibility or the new once -- new wants different than anybody else has said it then you are losing as a writer and one of the problems is writing so much flooding the script but do we think about what we've right to do we add it to ask any professional writer how many drafts did you go through?

eleventh or 12th as opposed to important things did you feel it does not matter. then it is a question if you are a reader. if you read "moby dick" on your global fund -- mobile phone you may not get a signal, but you read when you are bored and somebody may speak with you we use those whether face book updates or beating "the new york times" or a novel of lot of that is sent to avoid speaking with other people. mostly they want to avoid other people. >> people have the notion rather than sitting to think about it we should be.

but electronically your hard copy so going back to a book that they once read to say it is staring at you but if you have it on your kindle -- amazon kindle the whole relationship is i worry is changing to making it less easy to happen upon things to read and things to reflect on. >> host: professor, you touched on this but is being always on changing our human interaction? >> unfortunately, yes. i tell a story in the book

that to me is very emblematic of the problems. it is about the amish in lancaster pennsylvania. an interview was done with the gentleman about the fact they do not allow telephones in their house. and these-- they do of -- do some business they may have some by the icebox why not? because if the phone takes precedence over a face-to-face relationship relationship, what kind of people do we become? that we care more about something that is not with us than the person that is? we see over and over again that you and i walking down the street chatting and your phone rings, you take the

call or you get the buzz we know the other person feels left out. we know these devices have social problems. what could read do with the use devices whether computer are mobile phone or face book? you can block people. so with instant messaging if i don't want you to see my way messages this is a real story of a student who did not want his mom to see he would blocker and she would worry because he was away at school. no. you can block people and control the volume on your level of communication with other people. on face booker icahn and french you. a face-to-face relationships we're walking down the

street i really don't want to see you you may say hello. i have to learn socially to deal with this but the new technology we can block people in various ways and i worry about the social impact. also we must be connected to people of my students worry they have not gotten back to someone immediately maybe they will be shunned from the social circle you don't get to go together because you did not answer fast enough. many feel driven like hamsters on wheels that they must be on although they will tell you they do not want to be. it is not good for us. >> host: that is out effects the psyche. we feel compelled to be on? >> we feel conflicted.

>> we recognize that always being of bailable to others is not necessarily a good thing. i was giving a lecture those taking a course on digital citizenship. most of them had a computer or a laptop for the ipad. there is an article called his face bookmaking us lonely? one of the questions i posed this if you read teaching a class today would you want your students to use these technologies in class? they said no. even the ones that had the computer sitting in front of

them. why? because we're so distracted. we're not paying attention in the field we always have to have something on nine. so we check the status updates and reid old text messages because we cannot focus on one thing at a time and that is not good for us. even though they're the ones who are doing it. >> host: what is your role with electronic devices in class? >> guest: i have made enemies with my colleagues here at american university no computers, no ipad or tablets or mobile phone. students sometimes say but i was not sure how to spell the word some people have their name with double

letters and i may not get a right. they could look it up but i don't care. if i get the ear of the publication wrong i said 1963 and it is 64 i will correct it next class but let's have the conversation. and i've along to one organization that we worked on mobile phone issues. there is a conversation what you do in your class? it is amazing the people who do research on these. but i say it the reason you can use these i know too much about them and i know how your mind gets. put them away and lets talk. >> host: naomi baron, with the new technology we have is there any historical

trends debtor similar to today's technology? >> start with the question are reusing these technologies to distract to save us from loneliness? to kill time they did a study of mobile phones because they don't have anything else going in their mind. studies were done in the 1950's on talk radio. but whether the questions was who listens to talk radio? if you do psychological profiles it is people who were lonely and looking for communication but not so close they have to participate themselves.

we know they can be used. another example of the notion of loneliness of being alone. eight through 12 year-old girls i know that they're using social networking but those who did the most amounts of social networking and multitasking we are together but not really tended to have the lowest self-esteem and the lowest self confidence. and only if you were the eight through 12 year-old girl to look in the eyes of the people you're talking with which is hard for teenagers and a lot of adults i might add, but if you could look people in the guide that would compensate

for the social networking and then you would not end up with low self-esteem so what we know is technology can attract people who may already not have the greatest self-esteem or already be lonely. as a way to distract themselves. >> host: basically be a the first generation raised entirely with computers and sell phones. are you finding a difference of competency? of a more informed or less informed? >> guest: there is somebody that works at google with the name of the and he calls it inform the see that education, he is not alone in this they're saying the same thing that

we suspend our efforts teaching people how to find stuff for information on the internet it is different from knowing things. the fight took all the electricity away we have a blackout i said if your devices don't work what do you know, ? they will say not much because i need to be able to find things it is published last year that if you ask people to do a google search than later ask them what they found, there better remembering how they followed the search path they're remembering the contents. so these technologies, plus

kugel maybe i could live without it but it is redefining what it means to no. not just because of technology but people in education say we should learn how to use these. we are raising a generation of people to believe it is not what you know, or how you analyze the argument or who you are but that worries me incredibly. >> host: what is your view on the pbs? >> guest: some faculty members say over my dead body to use wikipedia it is a fascinating experiment provided an analysis why encyclopedia's came to be in

the first place it is the things that we knew about of western europe in the 16th and 17th century the sole commercial encyclopedia's came up and then that common man wanted to read but they could not afford the book. but wikipedia has been very helpful. i use it because i put in the search term things to collaboration wikipedia is the first hit said this is what i have to do research on but do you stop there? done deal or to say i have learned something but now i need to go with it in depth but but that lack of

"in-depth" learning and lack of motivation to say i could read a book on this. we have libraries. so many libraries are getting rid of the books to save treated as the e-bocor as a file and the problem with that is you use -- lose the hands-on to lay out five books to say this bids this but this fits different. what do i know about the author's this is what we train students to do. the technology is not helping us with that kind of teaching. >> host: who is studying linguistics today? >> guest: this is a very broad question but i will tell you that term is

defined so differently depending on which individual you are speaking with, which institution or which country we have studies of grammar or history and language but the biggest topic today is in danger of languages. how many languages are there? around 6,000. how many languages are dying every day meeting there are no longer living speakers? a bunch of. people are projecting 50 years from now instead of 6,000 may be 1,000 because of social and political and economic reasons speaking a language few people speak does not seem worth it. children are not learning languages from their parents

so if their sessions what do we do? that is a big issue. back in the middle ages there was one a language that we share amongst yourselves. then in the 18th century it was french and germans wish it was german after latin than english because of the empire than the united states after world war i and wrote were to. and the people who speak different varieties of english should the americans still you how they should speak or should people define language as they wish themselves?

the south african is different the vocabulary is different shinri let people have their own autonomy the way they speak? it is a big issuer gets into social rights are you going to tell me because i speak this version it is not real enough and i have to do a particular way? this whole movement towards whatever or cultural diversity has been one that says i will not judge iraq set 30 years ago we judge accent's a lot the we don't do it as much we used to we also don't judge grammatical mistakes. how it plays out with gruels that would be something i wish more link list would look at. >> host: what about the instantaneous always on change? >> it has led to frustration

and insecurity. is also a misnomer take instant messaging that means you respond immediately with synchronous communication. if you run a to zero or 12 chat's i know they don't do it as much as they used to because they are testing but of course, you're not doing it at the same time you do one then another then another. it is said the freezing spelling and grammar is so bad because we instantaneously send this out but if you are a teenage girl you say i got this e-mail in this is how i will respond. the day at it and they edit

so we don't take the instant as a call that we have to respond immediately unless we're in a social group philips have ways to expressing and responding to insecurities it is called growing up. if i send an e-mail and i wanted answer right away and i don't give a response that a person has a right to wait it does not matter which technology that what we are starting to understand more and more people we'll understand it is a problem to always be on. you take someone who has a

very powerful book that says you have to find time you will have the right kind of social interaction and that the the book she worries you always have to read this rather than sit down in your own sweet time. what kind of people have we become? the have a lot of businesses that they're saying there will be no e-mail because of what you to get productive work done and it will be better for the borough -- bottom-line you have more and more people who are starting to recognize that this may not be good for us. but at least.

>> host: which devices do you don't? >> i do have a laptop and the pad my husband has a couple of e-reader i hate to read a book on the e-reader. i have no idea of space. i have a mobile phone and we used zhuzhou why bother having a mobile phone because it was turned off? it was and it still is the reason i turn it on is because the iphone takes so long to warm up i only use it when they need it and people say but don't you study this? don't you care? i say because a study it that i want my sense of self

do know how long humankind has lived without having these devices? if there is in emergency it is probably okay. they will confine to me but i don't need to live that way. and i have better blood pressure as a result. >> host: naomi baron, are you seeing changes in your students in the way they communicate with you in the classroom, looking at you and the guy, talking with each other? >> guest: the first change dicey -- i see that started 10 years ago, a faculty members are supposed to have office hours. and the joke we used to say is lonely maytag repair man said it is so great the repairmen don't have

business. because now they can e-mail 24/7 some people use i am, texas, they don't have to show up but now they do expect an answer immediately so by getting e-mail at 2:00 in memory -- and winning singer not clear about the assignment if i wait until monday to respond when evaluations come does not respond to student saw one of the big changes is it all physically show up and the expectation structure is different with the timeliness and response and a total lack of understanding if you come up to somebody face to face things happen in that exchange that would not have been if i was typing or only

hearing your voice if we had a synchronous online course that is the new dynamic that it is practiced to the detriment because i don't have the chance to come up with the idea with the clinton the eye or the disappointment something going on that has nothing to do that we're talking about that stops you from doing your assignment but i cannot do that unless i am with you. those of the changes i see and they worry me. >> host: finally, with your book "always on" u.s. the question how much to blame that can be laid at the feet of technology themselves? >> i do.

with thin ice example of what i believe is the case my students are lousy with punctuation they don't have a clue what to do with us ; or:or a, a sprinkle them like croutons on a caesar salad. it is not their fault they say they rely on spell check. but kindergarten through high school did anyone really focus on spelling? no. because the faculty is thinking i need to focus on other things to be of modern skis. it is not the students' fault. if we change expectations of goals in education instead of reflecting were being by

yourself and thinking and reading for a long period of time with no distractions if students don't know how to do it is not technology's fault, it is ours. one of my major concerns is how much we should take the blame. i do mean blame and what about society? is not a society but a social change. take proofreading. there are many instances people have paid huge amounts of money, i know what a full-page ad cost in "the new york times." and a glossy magazine and no books published by fancy publishers. i compare with what i see with what i saw 20 years ago

and the professionals care less. then why shouldn't the laypeople? i see this in front of me. if it is okay for then it is not the technology it is social change and attitudes. >> host: we have been talking with american university professor naomi baron who teaches linguistics and the author of a couple of books, a growing up with language and the newest, a "always on" language in an online nad mobile world" and you are working on a new book? >> called words on the screen. >> host: you are watching booker t. be on c-span2.

>> host: professor friedman author of rethinking america in -- anti-americanism why do they as? by looking at all copies we ask tear out the 20th century and as it turns out first of all, they don't hate us. if you think of world opinion the united states since the advent of scientific polling with almost every country on the planet almost any point* in time the united states is more popular than unpopular and americans are much more like and as it turns out you discover there is a small fringe of various political movements that have hatred for the united states that we are more popular than the