Wait a second!
More handpicked essays just for you.
More handpicked essays just for you.
Texting's effect on writing
The effect of mobile phones on social relationships
How is it affecting text message literacy
Don’t take our word for it - see why 10 million students trust us with their essay needs.
Recommended: Texting's effect on writing
Text messaging became welcomed for a long time since cellular phone came out. With invention and innovation of technology, people are more likely to text each other instead of calling. Smartphone is one of the most successful invention in the past ten years, after the smartphone stepped into people’s daily lives, things were changes, people found that it was not only a phone which was able to build connections with somebody, but a tool to do numerous things that people had never expected before especially text messaging. I found that most of people looked at their phones with their earphones plugged when they were walking on the street, nearly everyone was texting messages. However, the debates of texting have never stopped and topics are varying. …show more content…
Since I read several articles within the book They Say / I Say: The Moves that Matter in Academic Writing, I found that text messaging is one of the best ways to communicate with each other because it does not influence people’s writing skills and helps people express themselves. The first article that I want to mention is “Does Texting Affect Writing?” by Michaela Cullington. In the article, the author states that text messaging is a easy, quick and convenient way to gain relationship from people to people. Then she brings up a controversial issue which is abbreviations effect on people’s writing skills or not. In fact, the reason why people are willing to use abbreviations is that they realize abbreviations can make communications easier and shorter. By researching …show more content…
Some critics such as some teachers and parents may claim that text messaging effect on people’s writing skills because people usually use abbreviations which harm to their grammar and spelling abilities. Also, some people who prefer calling rather than texting messages may claim that giving somebody a call would more efficient than sending a text message. People should reduce frequency of texting messages and give a call if you have to contact someone. That may be partly true. However, I do not think text messaging will cause decline of people’s writing skills. I have never seen people who write an essay with abbreviations or textspeak. Hence, people are able to distinguish contents they write are for messages or formal essays. Besides, I think text messaging is more efficient than calling, also many people including myself are not likely to give or receive a call. Sherry Turkle, who teaches in the program in science, technology and society at MIT, said that “once you have access to e-mail, instant messaging, and texting, things change” (375). When I write a text or e-mail, I can consider deeply and make sure I do not make mistakes on what I want to illustrate and even spelling. When I receive a call, I have to respond immediately which I have no enough time to think about
Michaela Cullington, a student, wrote a paper “Does Texting Affect Writing?” in 2010 for an English class. The paper is an examination of texting and the belief that it negative effective student’s writing. Cullington goes into detail about textspeak- “language created by these abbreviations”- and their use in formal writings. She organizes the paper in a way that is confusing to understand at first (pg. 1). At the end of the paper, she discusses her finding in her own research which comes to show that texting does not affect writing. But this is contradicting to the information she received from the teachers. The students and the teachers were seeing differences in the use of textspeak in formal writing. Cullington has good support for her
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.
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
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.
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
Texting however keeps people at arm’s length and prevents relationships from getting past a certain level of rapport. Text messages help people create distance between them and another person. This distance can lead to many things, like lost friendship. Friendships can be lost in text messages because of tone. I was texting my sister one day, who types in all capital letters, and finally halfway through the conversation I asked her why she was yelling at me, because that is how I was reading them, as me being yelled at. When she responded she was very confused, and told me that she didn’t realize that she had been yelling at me and was sorry. This can happen to anybody. People can confuse tone in text messages, and that can lead to one person arguing with someone who has no idea that they are in a fight. Text messages are also used by people to purposely keep others away from them, and by some it is used to hide. Alice G Walton, a science journalist with a Ph.D. in Biopsychology and Behavioral Neuroscience says, “People like to text because the message gives them the ability to hide,” (Walton). It is like the saying “a drunken mind speaks a sober heart,” When people are drunk they hide behind being it, and use alcohol as their mask, but when they are texting, it’s the phone. They are able to say what they would like, without having to actually face the person they are talking to, and
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...
British linguist and author David Crystal once said, "Texting has added a new dimension to language use, but its long-term impact is negligible. It is not a disaster." It is believed that texting has a negative impact on the way people write today, but Crystal counters that statement. Is he right? Or does the continuous use of communication through texting affect people's formal writing?
Txting is Killing Language. JK!!! is a 2013 TED Talk by John McWhorter that suggests texting is a linguistic form of writing like speaking. Throughout history, literacy and writing ability have been thought as declining, and texting has become a sloppy, subtler form. However, McWhorten believes texting is not writing at all. Writing is a conscious process, allowing writers to look backwards and edit, whereas talking is telegraphic. Casual speaking is looser than writing, whereas formal speaking is talking like writing. If you speak like you write, you might want to also write like you speak; texting allows that. Until recently, casual speaking was problematic to write because even if you can type as fast as you speak, you need someone
It has been many of times I have had to respond to a text asking what do certain abbreviations mean. Our younger generations have, and still are, growing up in a world where technology is developing alongside humanity. Even though technology is growing at a rapid speed it is still if is vital to the youth to learn "proper" grammar and spelling. We cannot fill out job applications,
Texting is a common method of communication nowadays. Human interaction has been inevitably changing over its existence - from speaking to handwritten messages to email, for example. Though many people consider texting a bad influence on a person’s vocabulary and grammar, it is not killing writing. It is obvious that English will change in the future, and texting is just a fluctuation in its evolution. The TED Talks video “Txting is killing language. JK!” by John McWhorter and the article “Is Text Messaging Ruining English?” by Jane Solomon both describe how texting is affecting writing.
Texting has become a new way to talk and communicate with people around the world, but with texting we often use slang words, and don’t spell words correctly. Which makes you think, is texting killing language? Texting has changed the meanings of some words that we use in everyday writing, but it is not affecting writing. Texting by itself is becoming its own language and is not ruining the writing language we already know.
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
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?