Text Messaging: 2b or not 2b? by David Crystal

1010 Words3 Pages

“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.
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...

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...exting thus save our future generations from destroying our language that we are proud of.

Works Cited

Cocotas, Alex. "Chart of the Day: Kids Send A Mind Boggling Number Of Texts Every Month." 22 March 2013. Business Insider. Web. 14 February 2014.
Crystal, David. "2b or Not 2b?" Graff, Gerald, Cathy Birkenstein and Russel Durst. They Say, I say. New York: W.W. Norton & Company, 2012. 335-348. Print.
McWhorter, John. "Talking With Your Fingers." 23 April 2012. The New York Times. Web. 15 February 2014.
Plester, Beverly and Clare Wood. "Exploring Relationships Between Traditional and New Media Literacies: British Preteen Texters at School." Journal of Computer-Mediated Communication (2009): 1108–1129. Print.
Swayne, Matthew and Andrea Elyse Messer. "No LOL matter: Tween texting may lead to poor grammar skills." 25 July 2012. Penn State News. Web. 9 February 2014.

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