Everywhere you look, all you see are teenagers texting on their cell phones! This has been going on for decades, but each year the amount of text messages being sent has increased tremendously. Cell phones have become more of a necessity for teens. The first text message was sent by Edward Lantz in the 1980’s by a Motorola beeper. Lantz did this by writing the numbers upside down to read the message. A 13 year old girl has sent around 14,500 text messages in only one month! Texting has been affecting teens positively and negatively. It has been affecting them positively because teens are getting more engaged into writing, but at the same time it is affecting them negatively because of auto-correct and the use of abbreviated and short …show more content…
Auto- correct is a software function that automatically makes corrections for mistakes while typing. If teens use auto- correct often during texting, then when they have to write an essay or a writing assignment in school, they will not know how to spell the word they are trying to use because auto- correct software corrected the word for them when they were texting. According to a study, some researchers gave a group of students a spelling/ grammar test. Half of the students did not text that often, and the other half texted very often with the help of auto- correct. The group of teens who did not text very often got a better score on the test than the students who use auto- correct often and don’t know how to spell the word. Auto- correct is making teens lazy because it is not forcing them to write/ spell the word …show more content…
Teens use shorthand text to shorten the length of a word, or abbreviate the word. Many teens get frustrated when reading short hand terms in essays or writing documents Some examples of short hand text and abbreviations are lol , omg, brb, and gtg meaning laugh out loud, o my gosh, be right back, and got to go. Research shows that teachers say that using short hand text and abbreviated words has become a problem because teens are not distinguishing the difference between formal and informal text. They do not understand the importance of using the appropriate language in the appropriate setting.
Text messaging is a technology that contributes to the great decline of the English language. The English language is often butchered through the use of text messaging. In Orwell’s essay, he states “An effect can become a cause, reinforcing the original cause and producing the same effect in an intensified form” (446). Main stream society is too lazy to correct any grammar and punctuation in a text message, leading to the assumption that it is not important, after all it is only a text message. Thus, this shows the English language is in decline, when society is to lazy to take a few extra second to correct spelling and punctuation errors . One would not be able to write the same way in an academic essay as they would in a text message. If one would do so, that student would receive an F. No English teacher, or for that matter any teacher, would be thrilled nor impressed reading an essay filled with these common texting erors.
Is it right for adolescent American students to text so profoundly? In my opinion, it is a very pessimistic thing and is having a negative effect on the students writing abilities and grammar. As it says in both passages ,“Text-Speak Is Harming Teens’ writing Skills,” and ,“Text-Speak Can Help Students,” recent studies have shown that an average teen sends about sixty texts per day. The use of informal language and slang takes place which can cause illness in academic work.
A recent outbreak in teen texting is taking a toll on their daily lives. Many teenagers have cell phones. Their parents get them phones for their safety and well-being, but is that what teens really use them for? I for one know that I rarely call my parents or use my phone for important reasons. Most of the time, I’m scrolling through Instagram and snapchat, to keep up with everyone that I will see in less than a day. The editorial from The Jersey Journal, called Teens are going to extremes with texting, informs the common people of the statistics of teen texting. The editorials main argument is communicating the excessiveness of teen texting. The author develops this point through expert uses of word choice, but also extreme examples and statistics.
“Our generation doesn't ring the doorbell. They text or call to say they're outside,” this line is from one of the well-known social networks, Tweeter, which shows how the way of communication has change in this modern life. According to 2013 statistics by Business Insider, in United States alone, smartphone owners aged 18 to 24 send 2,022 texts per month on average — 67 texts on a daily basis — and receive another 1,831 texts (Cocotas). Nowadays, technology such as text messaging has practically replaced traditional face to face communication among the society primarily in young generations because texting allows messages to be sent fast and effortless. In order to quickly type what they are trying to say in text messaging, people are frequently using textspeak; the language created by using abbreviation rather than complete words. Based on this phenomenon, David Crystal, an honorary professor of linguistics at the University of Wales has published an article entitled ‘2b or not 2b?’ in the Guardian on July 5, 2008 comes out with the research and studies that state texting can actually improve the literacy of children and create creativity of writing. However, by observing more critically, texting do decrease a person’s ability to switch between textspeak and the normal rules of grammar and adversely affect formal writing and conversational skills.
It's taking over our lives. We can do it almost anywhere. What is it? It's texting! Texting is a reliable, easy and convenient form of communication that is most commonly used by, but not limited to millenials and those in the workforce. Many people use it as a way to express themselves as well. In Michaela Cullington’s article, “Does Texting Affect Writing?” she targets two different attitudes in relation to texting. Cullington explains that there is often an assumption that students who use abbreviations when they text, will bring those same abbreviations over to their formal writing pieces. Cullington then adds that the other attitude in relation to writing skills and texting insists that texting is harming student’s writing capabilities. Because of her research as well as experiments done by other colleagues of hers, it shows that
Word prediction programs were originally developed to reduce typing for individuals with physical disabilities (MacArthur, 1998). Word prediction can help students during word processing by predicting a word the student intends to use. Predictions are based on spelling, syntax, and frequent or recent use of a word. This type of compensatory support prompts students who struggle with writing to use proper spelling, grammar and word choice. Word predication can also provide the slow or reluctant writer a means of developing and entering text confidently without spending all their time worrying a...
How often do we text? Text messaging is a very useful way to communicate; but, there are occasions where texting is unnecessary, for example in meetings, watching movies, interacting with family, and even in the shower. However, while texting can be overused, it can also help us get to know one another in easier and faster ways. In Natalie Y. Moore’s article “The Rule of Thumbs: Love in the Age of Texting," she explains how the use of texting it is slowly destroying the love between two people (Moore, 1). Although, some people might agree with Moore points of view, when she argues that texting is killing romance and it should be reserved for some notifications, such as “I’m running late;” others might disagree with this idea
These major changes show in the classroom. Texting affects students in the classroom, and the teachers.
Technology is one of the biggest reasons of why standardized spelling is where it’s at today. With the use of autocorrect, it is changing the way we “read and write, and must spelling” (Trubek). Standardized spelling is heavily enforced in autocorrect with all its complex rules and such. No one ever pays attention to the rules so why should there be rules in the first place? That’s how the English language works.
The use inventive spelling, abbreviations. As high school students start to use short texting, some of their grades dropped due to the spelling errors they make. So many teens get used to wing abbreviating that they just begin to write that that way. Some teenagers writing skills have turned into sentence fragments, because of the limited space they put into text sentence. In my research how does texting affect teen literacy the percentage was 64 percent of students who say they incorporated text language in their writing, 25 percent said they did so to convey have used text shortcuts a lot of students, vocabulary and grammar is also affecting their literacy. The outlook of the teachers is that. Text plus recently released results of its own survey of 1,214 teens that use their services. 43 percent of which have texted in class, they seem to pay more attention to their phone than what the teacher is teaching. They seem to have the phones that will spell the word for them so they have to worry about spelling. In the age of text message, where words are reduce to no stand abbreviating, symbols, But in my research I pointed out that technology has put new emphasis on reading and
The problem with autocorrect technology is that, spell check can misspell a word by automatically changing the intended word, leading to spelling a completely different word. This can cause miscommunication due to misspelled words and incorrect usage of grammar. For instance, if a person types “there” in place of “their,” spell check will not recognize it as a misspelled word, even though it could still be the incorrect word. It might also highlight a word as misspelled only because it does not identify it.
As smart as it is, autocorrect is worsening spelling and grammatical skills, since we rely on it to fix every little thing. In the article, ‘Autocorrect Generation”, author Laura Clark writes, “Computer spell checks have created an ‘auto-correct generation’ unable to spell common words such as ‘necessary’ and ‘separate’, a survey has found” (Clark 1). Now, why is this? This is because we type the words, but once autocorrect fixes it for us, we do not take the time to learn the correct spelling. We continue to type the same words, knowing that autocorrect will just fix it for us.
We often hear news stories report on the possible negative effects texting has on students’ formal writing. These stories usually flash a picture of some student’s formal essay or class assignment containing a text-speak abbreviation in place of a formal word. For example, “u” in place of “you”. Stories like this cause educators and parents to worry that the use of texting is impairing students’ ability to write in a formal setting and is thus becoming detrimental to literacy altogether. However, do these news stories actually hold any merit or are they simply media hype? How often does textspeak actually appear in students’ writing? According to literary scholar David Crystal, “all the evidence suggests that belief in an impending linguistic disaster is a conseq...
Text messaging is damaging our literacy and communication skills as a society. Calling someone on the phone or writing them a letter is rapidly becoming a thing of the past. There is a new language that is being learned and not taught across the globe. It is the language of Textese, and it has quickly consumed the lives of millions across the world. There will always be the protector of language arts. These are the shrinking number of people everyone knows, that will continue to handwrite letters and sign them with proper English and etiquette. It may be as simple as picking up the phone and calling a friend or relative. It may be even simpler than that, in that people put forth an effort to talk to the person sitting next to or across from you and engage them in a conversation. Texting and textisms have become so common and widespread that using proper English, correct spelling, and full sentences is also becoming a thing of the past. People that constantly use text and instant messaging may have difficulty with literacy and expressing themselves in writing form. The research shows that text messaging has deteriorated how we communicate and express ourselves because textisms have become an easier and quicker form of communication that has affected literacy in children and adults.
There has always been controversy as to teens not being able to concentrate and focus because of texting and cell phone use. Visiting any U.S high school can show the lack of concentration and focus of students caused by using their phones. Benefits of having a cell phone can have the advantage of reporting crimes as they happen, handling an emergency, and always being connected with friends and family; however there are drawbacks such as reducing concentration, having poor grades, and causing an accident while the driver is using his phone.