OMG! It is a little known fact that the first recorded use of the abbreviation O.M.G was in 1917 by Lord Fisher in a letter to Winston Churchill. Does this mean that Lord Fisher was the world’s first teenage girl? Of course not, but in recent times, the term is frequently associated with teenagers, particularly girls, and such contractions are so common in a language that is now regularly used by the younger generation whilst communicating, that the word has officially been added to the Oxford English Dictionary. Many different opinions have been voiced about the development of vocabulary that is referred to as ‘text speak’, or ‘text language’, and in this essay, I will explore the ideas of texting and web-based communications aiding or restricting the English language as we know it. So has texting suddenly become the most widely used form of communication? One of the main reasons is that texting is convenient, as it is asynchronous. It allows the receiver to respond at their own discretion, and it doesn’t require the immediate attention that a phone call would. Another important factor is that texting has now become the social norm, especially amongst teenagers. Teenagers are rarely seen calling a friend; instead, they are incessantly tapping away at their phones. This is because texting has become so popular amongst teenagers that it is now virtually the only way they communicate, so calling a friend would seem odd – almost unnatural. Texting is also cheaper, and it means that you can avoid those awkward moments of silence that might come up over the phone. These embarrassing pauses, hesitations and false starts are frequently found over spoken conversations but they are less common when texting. Some people believe the now re... ... middle of paper ... ...e situation. People who are unable to do so are incarcerated, because their use of the English language is confined to Standard English, but texting allows the younger generation to use their understanding of English to manipulate words in a creative way. Although it can be difficult, at times, to understand text messages that are written completely in text speak, these contractions are being used less commonly than before. Generally, most teenagers recognise circumstances where using text language is appropriate, as they make a conscious choice to abbreviate and contract words, and as they grow older, many young people decrease their usage of this form of English, only using it when necessary. After all, if Lord Fisher could get away with using OMG in a letter to Winston Churchill, why should teenagers be deprived of the right to use such abbreviations when texting?
In the article, “Does Im Make U dum”, the author states how instant messaging has made us become “dum”. The issue of using popular texting abbreviations like, “lol”, “brb”, or “gtg” can either be an effective or unproductive way of expression. Using abbreviations through texting are so commonly used by children, teenagers, and adults. Statistics show that children are younger than ever for when they are first exposed to mobile phones and text messaging. A 2005 ChildWise study that one-in-four children under the age of eight had a mobile phone.
Writing, according to an article in Times Magazine titled “Is Texting Killing the English Language” by John McWhorter, is an art that has been around for about 5,500 years. Since writing is deliberate and takes more time to compose, it’s usually better thought out and sounds more sophisticated. Speech, on the other hand, is more of an “unconscious” practice.
In our world there are many forms of communication and these devices are beginning to take a toll on our younger generations. In Jeffery Kluger’s article,” We Never Talk Anymore: The Problem with Text Messaging,” the idea that younger generations are becoming socially inept due to technology is discussed. As these younger generations consume texting as a main form of communication other important social skills deteriate.
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 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.
In both stories “Text-Speak is Harming Teens’ Writing Skills” and “Text-Speak Can Help Students” they involve in arguing over what to call this “text-speech”, whether it being harmful or not, I would support both of the fact that it would support and harm the way of writing today, but in the way that you are putting it. The way of typing while you're writing an essay, you wouldn’t want to say: Lol (laugh out loud), tbh (to be honest) , smh (shaking my head), or R4T (Ready for Tonight). Spelling them out is better than just typing out the initials, because a lot of people don’t understand what the person is communicating to them. Yet, it can help when you are in a hurry to work or if your talking to someone on the internet.
Texting, and sending messages have a major negative impact on American teens’ writing skills. The American teenager sends about sixty text messages a day. Teens are often using slang while texting someone, for example lol means “laugh out loud”. While teens are texting like this, it is causing the effects of their academic work such as writing.
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
Since the Industrial Revolution, technology has permeated and become an integral part of our everyday lives. In fact, a life without technology seems almost impossible to imagine. Almost everyone, around the globe, has access to technology in one form or another. Consequently this type of technology has become ingrained into our culture. Its roots are so deep that it is now peculiar to see someone without a smartphone than with one. Consequently, smartphones and the Internet have radically changed the manner in which we communicate and how we communicate with one another. Our speech has metamorphosed so much from that of our grandparents that it almost seems like a foreign language due to the incorporation of slang and “text talk.” With the sudden surge of email, blogs, and instant messaging that occurred within the last couple of decades, the impact that technology has on our linguistics has become more pronounced. Technology has helped to bridge the gap between people by allowing us to communicate as easily as we breathe. On this note, one would think that the dawn of the Era of Technology would give birth to a renaissance of the English language but, instead, the converse is taking place. With such widespread prevalence of technology such as smartphones and computers, the degradation of the English language is a problem now more than ever.
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?
Continuous sharing has led to a need to quickly formulate a thought and send it out, grammatical errors and all. This is an issue that has gone on since the start of being able to send messages via online and through text messaging. I’ve come across three authors who share similar and different mindsets when it comes to texting and abbreviated communication. Some of these views offer a positive outlook for social media; they look at social networking sites and think how easily accessible it is to share and love the quickness of it. On the other hand, some look at it as the demise of the English language. Nonetheless, I will show three different viewpoints that, in their own ways, prove something about abbreviated communication. One author is Peggy Orenstein writer of “I Tweet, Therefore I Am”; she is an avid user of the social networking site, Twitter. One day she comes to a realization that what she shares may be unauthentic to whom she in as a person and how, possibly, social media, is blurring the line of her as a person and her persona (146-167). Then we have John Dickerson, who is a supporter of constant sharing on social media. When he loses his trusty journal where he documents everything in his life, he realizes that social media is no different then writing with pen and paper. He explains how he backs capturing something memorable at the moment in “Note To Selfie” (134-789). Lastly is an author who implements both the good and the bad of abbreviated communication in her article. Kris Axman correlates between the new language of teenagers and the reason for degenerate grammar in ‘ “r u online?”: The Evolving Lexicon of Wired Teens’ (134-668). You will see how the abbreviated form of communication is detrimental to the pro...
Language is a form of verbal communication via words and its pronunciation that is used and comprehended by various people of the same nation, culture, or geographical background. It has been said to be dated back as far as one thousand years ago before writing. Like culture, language is passed on through the process of enculturation. Meaning that it is something that is learned (Kottak, 101). In the video, “TED TALK: 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. Although Ted disagrees with the above statement, in my opinion, I believe that a language can be altered if it is changed by enough speakers and writers. With the constant use of various forms of technology, communication via texting has become a very popular leisure activity for people all o...
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.
Talking on the phone requires an immediate response, as opposed to texting. To others, talking with someone is connecting with them on a personal level. For example, when talking to my mother or grandmother I prefer calling them. I don’t see them every day and it always feels so good to hear their voices, which it also allows me to hear and feel their emotions. Texting on the other hand makes it hard to capture their emotions. To me, texting is not as personal; there are no other factors involved on the conversation than what you see on the screen, the text. There is no easy way to feel, or identify the other person’s emotions in a text message clearly; therefore, texting can be a misused form of communication if your objective is to spend hours on the phone to express your
These days texting is the most common means of communication; in a form that uses abbreviations to quicker the process. This is not famous way of communication between the teenagers only, text messages have gained there value in business too. It allows person to reply according to their connivence and does not make them to have to call. Too make the process of texting fast, people use language of abbreviation; “textspeak”. People argue on positive and negative affects on student’s writing skills due to such use of abbreviation. Reality is that, there is no influence on student writing due to texting.