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.
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
Statistics make everything more believable, and strong examples reveal real life situations. The author writes “One 14-year-old New Jerseyan featured in a recent Star-Ledger story receives up to 10,000-10,000! - text messages a month.” This evidence is extremely unlikely once you really think about it, but who takes the time to evaluate anymore? You’d just believe whatever the article says because there’s nothing else to prove it wrong. The author also includes a study that says 13- to 17-year-olds send or receive an average of about 1700 texts. This is much more believable, but also a dramatic amount that surprises you. Authors include statistics like these so that they get across the point that their trying to make. The author also includes government action opposing phone usage on the road, in addition to a rehab center for “obsessive use of video games, texting, Facebook, eBay and Twitter.” These ingredients come together to form great evidence and hinting to the main argument of teens overactive texting.
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.
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
In his article, Crystal claimed that texting helps children to be better at their spelling and writing and they tend to score higher on test of reading and vocabulary because of the abbreviations used in their messages. Although Crystal provides ample evidence that texting is not linked to a drop in linguistic standard, Penn State News entitled ‘No LOL matter: Tween texting may lead to...
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.
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...
These major changes show in the classroom. Texting affects students in the classroom, and the teachers.
You can say that overuse in texting is determination the way teens, students write formally in the classroom. Teens that spend most of their eyes on their phone has already created their own texting style. Now I am able to answer the question, how does texting affect teen literacy? Texting affects teen literacy because, text messaging does affect our grammar because, teens text like for example; “ttyl”, “gtg”, “wyd”. They find an easy way of texting rather than using the correct way. In order to get what they want done, we wanted to see and learn about the damage that texting can cause on teens and we did learn, we learned that it can affect our grammar, grades, and even your future in trying to get a job, your skills in so much more. I wanted to inform the teens about the damage that texting in short terms can do to you. Encourage them not to write in short term because, they are too
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.
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.
Step onto any college campus and take a look around. You will find clumps of students standing around in circles, phones in hand, typing away. What is it they are doing? Texting. Ever since the first text message was sent in 1993, the use of text messaging as a means of communication has spread like wild fire, especially amongst the adolescent generation. And with this new form of communication a new language has appeared; text-speak, the shortening of common words into abbreviations and acronyms (Drouin 49). While texting and the text-speak language seem to have been welcomed by many, what affect is this new technology having on the way we communicate? Is it possible that texting is negatively affecting our ability to use formal written communication, or is this idea just a myth perpetuated by negative media attention? And what changes has texting brought to the way we communicate person-to person? Are these changes positive, negative, or perhaps a mixture of both?
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.
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.