Wait a second!
More handpicked essays just for you.
More handpicked essays just for you.
Does texting affect writing
Texting and its effects
Advantages and disadvantages of texting
Don’t take our word for it - see why 10 million students trust us with their essay needs.
Recommended: Does texting affect writing
As most people that own a cell phone, I am a fan of texting. Texting is a way of communication, a short hand for this generation. I would rather text than call a person to ask one simple question that would draw out a long conversation that would waste time and precious minutes on a cell phone bill. David Crystal is a linguistics professor at the University of Wales in his essay “2b or Not 2b “describes in detail on why texting has made our generation’s writing and spelling skills improve. Since the modern print was invented the “people” that Crystal referred to have always had issues with technology, can technology over pass human emotion in terms of language, shorter faster might not always be better. I, for the most part, agree with his …show more content…
Cell phones of this time have a vast amount of technology that goes with them. There is auto correct for those of us using smart phones and spell check to allow people that want to type out everything in whole to revise and edit the words in which they have intended to use. Spell check personally helps me to finish the words that I have a hunch on how to spell words, but I’m not entirely sure, and I am not sure, call it laziness it’s just easier. I do not believe that any of the words used by John Sutherland of University College London, in the article to describe the new era of texting are correct. According to Sutherland writing in his paper in 2002, it is "bleak, bald, sad shorthand. Drab shrink talk. Linguistically it 's all pig 's ear. It masks dyslexia, poor spelling and mental laziness. Texting is penmanship for …show more content…
You cannot just abbreviate any and every word. I think to condemn the new texting language (Sutherland 2002) as a “digital virus” is wrong. I do feel somewhat silly using certain abbreviations and I want to feel like I am well-spoken correct punctuation, proper verb forms and tense, the use of the right words at the right times. Some situations we find ourselves in force us to put constraints on our messages. Social networking sites such as Facebook and twitter put a character limit on the sum of text allowed in one status or tweet. Rather than start a new message people would rather go back and modify some words and shorten them in order to fit them into the limitation of the site. If you are composing a tweet that just slightly surpasses the given text amount why erase it or start a whole new message when you can just simply remove some letters and use logic to figure out another way to get the message out. Crystal mentions several text message novels that would be rather annoying for this 31 year old mother of three, who just wants to read a book and not try to figure out what SMH
This is where she uses ethos to provide the reader with an understanding that she is a credible writer. First she uses the National Center for Education Statistics information to provide a strong base of knowledge regarding the topic that is already available. The article from the National Center for Education Statistics includes a quote from a teacher stating “the use of acronyms and shorthand in text messages for students’ inability to spell and ultimately to write well” (pg. 2). She goes on to explain teacher’s viewpoints and their beliefs on the topic after seeing a decrease in writing abilities. There is a quote included by Naomi Baron, a professor at American University, in which states “so much of American society has become sloppy and laissez faire about the mechanics of writing” (pg.2). This quote provides evidence that everyone should be concerned about the effects because our society is facing the issues as well not only students. As she continues to provide a foundation for others ideas regarding the topic, she changes viewpoints to those who see the positives in texting. Cullington uses an author to elaborate on the positives that increased texting can have on individuals. David Crystal explains that students “sharpen their diplomatic skills . . . [because] it allows more time to formulate their thoughts and express them carefully” (pg.4). This is something that is important in today’s day and age where people want the short and sweet version, not something drawn out that can be hard to understand. In her background information regarding the positive aspects of texting, she uses emotions to connect with the reader when she discusses children who struggle with writing. Texting can help students “overcome their awkwardness and develop their social and communication skills” Crystal states (pg. 5). The use of emotion is key to capturing
In the article, “Does Texting Affect Writing?”, the author Michaela Cullington conveys her speculation that texting does not correlate to how students write formal essays. At the beginning of the article Cullington introduces the term texting and the convenience texting brings. Later expressing her concern that the texting language “Textspeak” is actually affecting students writing; then contradicts these views by using primary and secondary sources (news articles, books, her own surveys and research). In addition, she uses an anecdote to tell of her own experience with texting and writing. Together with other evidences and research put together, she uncovers the debate between textspeak and formal writing. On the basis of her research, she concludes that the state of texting does not interfere with writing or writing abilities.
According to the National Center for Education Statistics, it is reported, "25% of high school seniors are proficient writers" (Cullington, 362). Jacquie Ream, a former teacher and author for K.I.S.S. expands on this statistic by stating, "we have a whole generation being raised without communication" (Cullington, 362). By this, Ream means that we as people are not physically socializing with each other, but yet using devices to replace the way we talk and express our feelings to one another instead. Ream then goes on to blame the use of acronyms and shorthand in text messages as the downfall of writing skills. Here, Ream means that because of lack of proper language we have become careless when writing. Naomi Baron, a professor at American University, states that America as a whole has become sloppy with the mechanics of writing due to texting. Both teachers in Michaela's article agree that the essence of texting is responsible for the oversight of punctuation, lack of emotion, and lastly a rise in grammatical errors in formal
Although, some might say texting is changing the English language for the better in fact it is actually changing it for the worse because of how difficult it is to decipher the shortened meanings.
Text messaging has become a norm in our generation, as technology rapidly advances and gives way to more efficient forms of communication in a fast-paced world; and many are skeptical about the influence this new form of interaction is having on our society, especially with our younger generation. David Crystal, a professor at the University of Wales, writes “2b or Not 2b?” in support of text messaging. He insists, despite those who underestimate or negate the beneficial influence text messaging has on language proficiency, that “there is increasing evidence that [texting] helps rather than hinders literacy” and that the fairly recent form of communication has actually been around for a while and “is merely the latest manifestation of the human ability to be linguistically creative and to adopt language to suit the demands of diverse settings. In contrast, Jeffery Kluger argues in “We Never Talk Anymore: The Problem with Text Messaging” that text messaging is rapidly becoming a substitute for more genuine forms of communication and is resulting in difficulty among young peoples of our generation to hold a face-to-face conversation, engage in significant nonverbal expression, and ultimately build effective relationships with family, friends and co-workers. Both writers’ present valid arguments, however, my personal experience with text messaging has led me to agree more with Crystal’s view on the matter. Text messaging is indeed having a positive effect on society by making frequent texters primarily aware of the need to be understood, as well as offering betterment of spelling and writing through practice, and reinventing and expanding on a bygone dimension of our language through the use of rebuses and abbreviations.
Although one would argue that technology has advanced enormously and changed how people interact, Cullington notes that texting has little to no effect on formal writing. The students that Cullington sought opinion from were not aware that text abbreviations were appropriate for formal writing. She further adds that textspeak will remain harmless as long as language is applied in the correct place rather than in formal
When cell phones were first introduced, all you could do was call others and talk for half an hour. It was like a brick and took ten hours to charge. It also cost $3995. That’s a lot more than most of today’s cell phones. Even, though it was a very basic phone, it began impacting the world. Now, you could call your relatives and actually talk with them without being next to them. Parents gave their kids cell phones to stay in touch. Now you can contact anyone through your mobile phone in multiple ways. You can text, call, facetime or message someone through social media. Cell phones abilities
“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.
Old fashioned phone conversations are more sincere. They allow people to talk on a personal level, even though they may not be physically next to each other. Phone conversations allow people to have a closer look to your inner personality and a sense of understanding is developed. Yet, if phone calls grow sincere conversations, then why do people prefer texting instead of phone calls? "The more ri...
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
Texting is killing language,” Ted starts off the video by saying that “The idea is that texting spells the decline and fall of any kind of serious literacy, or at least writing ability, among young people in the United States and now the whole world today (Ted, 2013). Throughout the film discussion, what stuck out to me the most was how drastic language has changed via technology.
These days, smart-phones and cellphones have dominated most of our lives. If you look at someone after school or work, you'll see at least one person on their phone, whether it's checking their email, calling a friend or killing some time with Angry Birds. However, you might see someone jabbing at their phone, with their index finger, or both thumbs, and most people know what that the action they're doing is probably what is known as texting. However some people don't appreciate the function of this "texting". They don't dislike texting itself, they just hate the language some texters use. This language includes phrases like "LOL", which means laugh out loud, and "YOLO", which means "you only live once", which drives English language conservatives crazy.Well one of these literary conservatives, John Humphrys', also a British journalist, radio and television presenter released an article in 2007 in the Daily Mail, titled "I h8 txt msgs: How texting is wrecking our language", states that this new language, the texting language is ruining English, it is ruining the younger generations ability to write, and will affect the future if the English language in a negative way. Humphrys writing style consists of popular beliefs and his own voice in his article, and shows his hatred toward texting. In his controversial article, it is evident he is afraid that the English language may deteriorate into a bunch of emoticons and become a giant mnemonic system due to the large amount of abbreviations. Well is he true? David Crystal, another British writer and lecturer of the English language, with a worldwide reputation and over 100 books to his name, answers that question in an article he wrote on July 15, 2008, headed “2b or not 2b” which was a...
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?
...f abbreviations. These five elements consist of phonetic contractions, clippings, omissions, substitutions and initializations. Each characteristic is unique and commonly used when it comes to texting, some more than others, therefore developing the texting written form. Two of the most common elements used are initializations and substitutions with symbols and emoticons. With these elements combined and in action, it forms the texting language, which serves many purposes other than a form of written communication. It serves as a form of expression of an individual’s personality and emotions and it simply follows the cultural of spoken language. With those purposes said, there is no direct correlation between texting frequently and literacy. Texting orthography is unique because of the unregulated factor where each individual molds texting into his or her own style.
This is especially important to me because I tend to forget about dates and special outings. Texting with my friends or family allows me to go back and view my history in case I miss an important date or I need to get an address to go somewhere. Being on the phone, however, I can try to write down what and where they want me to be but if I don’t remember where I wrote the information down there is no way for me to track back our conversation. Therefore, personally I prefer texting.