Does technology help us, or hurt us? I think it would depend on the generation or understanding of what technology really does.
I have visited quite a few schools to read my children’s books and talk about writing. There is always a little time after a reading for children to ask me questions. The one question I am asked all the time and first is “Where do you get ideas for your book?” Every once in a while a child will ask “Do you have a computer?” “Yes,” I reply, “but not always.”
Yes, computers or word processors are wonderful writing tools. Word processors can certainly help you write more efficiently. You can highlight blocks or paragraphs of text and move them around with ease with a mouse. There is a built-in spell and grammar check.
The truth is no matter how advanced in technology computers are and most certainly will become, they will not and cannot write for you. Sure, they will suggest where to put a comma. Sure, it will tell you when you do not have subject/verb agreement, when you have a fragment. But, do you understand why the computer is pointing these things out? More importantly, do you know how to correct them? Is the computer even correct? Writers have this earned privilege called a poetic license.
It is not so much about the technology the computer has in correcting spelling and grammar as it is about pointing errors out. An example is misspelled words—not necessarily typos but misspelled words. If you meant to type too but typed to, to the computer you are correct. See? You cannot trust the computer. You have to be able to check your work much the same way as you do with math. That is why math teachers want to see your work or calculations.
They want to see if you really understood how you got your answer. Some students think they can get by or away with memorization, but eventually you will have to know what you are doing.
When I tell students I started out as a writer with a manual typewriter, I might as well have said to them that I painted pictures on cave walls. They look at me rather strangely like a dog when he tilts his head. Some of them have never even seen a manual typewriter let alone heard of one.
The truth is manual typewriters will teach you how to write, not necessarily come up with a story—that is all you, something that cannot be taught—but teach you how to write it grammatically correct. Word processors can spoil us. They can make us lazy, and this is dangerous for aspiring writers. With word processors, you do not have to write or think through your thoughts carefully. Manual typewriters, on the other hand, will. You will think twice, even three times about your thoughts before you type them out. Otherwise, ripping out typed page after typed page will get old fast and rather frustrating.
Before you move up to a word processor like Microsoft Word, your grammar skills should be sharp enough to be on autopilot when you write. If you think bad or mediocre grammar skills are distracting while you write, imagine what it will do to the reader. With good grammar skills you will not always have to trust the computer, or be at the mercy of the computer. When it claims you have an error, you will be able to think about it, debate it. If the computer tells you to jump off a bridge, will you?