Do Not Believe the Critics

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Recommended: Negative impacts of texting

Ever since cell phones and became popular with people, there has been one major question: Is texting going to help or hurt us in the long run? Many people have either criticized or praised the new technology and how everyone is using it. Two reporters, John Humphrys and Clive Thompson, have very different viewpoints on texting; Thompson believes that it is helping today’s generation write more, while Humphrys thinks it is destroying the English language. Personally, I do not believe that using modern technology is totally evil, and, in fact, I believe it can help the language we use.

Humphrys’ main argument in his article was that texting will change the future of the English language for the worse. Humphrys believes that the language will change just to keep up with the increasingly lazy way people are writing. One of his examples showing this is the Oxford English Dictionary not using hyphens in some of its words anymore. Angus Stevenson, the editor of the OED has said, “we no longer have time to reach for the hyphen key.” It is absurd to Humphrys that no one has time anymore to type a more sophisticated and grammatically correct message to their friends.

Another one of John Humphrys’ points is that texting does not let the writer have a good conversation with the person they are texting. Since the messages are so clipped and scrunched together, it may take a long time to figure out what the other person is actually trying to tell you. Humphrys’ example is a message that he once got that read “IMHO U R GR8.” It would take anyone a while to realize that the message was “In my humble opinion, you are great” (Humphrys). Because of all the time and headaches people spend trying to decipher text lingo, the conversation fails and...

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...ies that were graded, I made sure I used proper grammar and spelling. It is just common knowledge, an instinct almost, that you use your best writing skills on important papers.

Technology is not a bad thing; in fact it can actually make life easier. John Humphrys may think that texting is destroying the English language, but I have to agree more with Clive Thompson; technology is actually helping people improve their writing skills as they write more. I believe that technology is a good thing, and even though at times it might seem that it is changing the world we live in, I do not think that it will ultimately change for the worse.

Works Cited

Humphrys, John. “I h8 msgs: How texting is wrecking our language.” Mail Online. September

2007. Web. 14 Dec. 2011

Thompson, Clive. “Clive Thompson on the New Literacy.” Wired Magazine. August 2009. Web. 14 Dec. 2011

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