Is e-mail killing literacy?

Take a look at the following text: "Please help me find a friend, here name is jean, she disappeared years ago. She was living in Malta and different countries. i has no more information but would be tankful if their is any advice you can offer, has to what step to take."

No, this piece of prose was not penned by a six-year-old who is still learning to spell.

I have become aware of something curious.

Letters sent to me in the traditional way, written on paper and delivered by post, are of a generally higher standard. They are from the same sort of people. It seems they take the trouble to adhere to the rules of written English.

This is no mere accident. So could it be that sending e-mail encourages slovenly writing?

I am convinced it does and this is how it works: people believe - subconsciously no doubt - that as they are employing this fabulous new age electronic wizardy to send their letters, the actual text of the message itself is of secondary importance.

The writer knows that what they are saying will be understood despite all the mistakes, so why bother to polish it up?

As speed is the prime attraction of the e-mailing process, the whole point is to whack it off as quickly as possible.

Unfortunately, there is one crucial factor which the slapdash e-mail writer does not take into account: the impression his or her shoddy effort makes on the recipient.

It is insulting to be sent a poorly written e-mail. Don't those who are expected to read and answer it merit a bit more care, a bit more, dare I say it, time?

Such e-mails do not inspire a reply of any kind, much less a thoughtful, conscientious one. This defeats the purpose of sending them in the first place.

My heart sinks when I click open an e-mail to read something like: 'I wonder wheather you can help'. I am sure that those able to use computer communications technology should be capable of using a PC's spell check facility too.

Such an argument is fair enough. But the danger is that, with e-mail becoming more and more commonplace, within a generation people will no longer be able to write in any other way.

If e-mail culture continues to spread, bringing with it a deterioration of literacy skills, there will not be anyone left who can write the books that people want to read.