The best-selling author said parents should consider restricting the use of mobile phones and websites, encouraging their children to go back to “old-fashioned” interaction.
Sir Terry, 64, said the new technology was restricting young people’s thoughts and said having a wide vocabulary “stops you getting frustrated”.
In an interview with the Evening Standard, he said Shakespeare “went to a lot of trouble” for the English language, only for the new generation to “knock away half of the consonents”.
He said: “Kids now seem unmotivated. Social media is not helping and texting certainly isn’t.
“You have to have interaction with other people.
“If you have the words to identify exactly what you mean, you can get your message across. I’m sure this is linked to rough behaviour.”
The author, who has sold more than 65 million books, was supported by Dr Kairen Cullen, an educational psychologist.
Dr Cullen said: “New media increases access for lots of children but it doesn’t give them the experience of face-to-face contact. We only get good at that with lots of practice.
“It does not allow children to build up patience and time-keeping.”
Sir Terry Pratchett, who now suffers from the early stages of Alzheimer’s, is said to be the second more-read [yes, that's how the author of this article wrote it] author in the UK currently and is best known for his work in the fantasy genre.
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