“According to a study by German technology advocate Bitkom, people age 14 to 29 would rather give up their relationship partner than their cell phone – by a 2-to-1 margin!1 ” Cell phones have become an integral part of our society. As of April 2010, 75% of teens have a cell phone, and 88% of those teens are texting.2 When you combine the cell phone, a teenager, and the ability to text, you have a trend (texting) that is not going away.
So is texting a good thing or a bad thing? The answer depends on who you ask and which group you are addressing the question to. It is safe to say that texting seems to fit into the masculine culture of America. It provides direct, no frills communication. Advertisers are quite fond of it. It is estimated that 95% of texts are opened and read1. This is a much higher percentage than your average spam email. Some people (I am in this group) will tell you it is affecting our teen population’s ability to write, spell, and properly express feelings.3 “According to a recent report from Pew Internet and American Life Project, "Writing, Technology and Teens," the vast amount of cell phone text-based abbreviated communications teens use is showing up in more formal writing.”4 I think everyone can agree text-based abbreviations have no place in formal writing.
Texting cannot and should not be considered a writing tool. Texting teens use acronyms, emoticons, and one-liners. Even the one-liners are not required to be complete sentences. This type of writing can be habitual, and that is another habit our teens do not need. While researching this topic I discovered numerous incidents of people, responding to articles, which spoke in favor of texting, but did it with incorrect spelling and incomplete sentences. This makes it quite difficult for me to “see” their side. It is unfortunate I could not locate more recent studies showing the effect texting has on teens and formal writing. In the end, I believe texting can be a very handy tool, but similar to sharp objects, it needs to be in the right hands.
1 Texting Rules Perkins, Bart 11 May 2009 http://web.ebscohost.com.dml.regis.edu/ehost/pdfviewer/pdfviewer?sid=24c4e227-e5cd-458c-b794-f5cdefbf6e8f%40sessionmgr115&vid=1&hid=122
2 The Age of Teen Texting Dolliver, Mark 26 Apr 2010 http://web.ebscohost.com.dml.regis.edu/ehost/detail?sid=a8c2f5b0-2286-4d94-ad5c-795cebe73fad%40sessionmgr113&vid=1&hid=122&bdata=JnNpdGU9ZWhvc3QtbGl2ZQ%3d%3d#db=aph&AN=50038151
3 Is Texting Destroying Kids' Writing Style? Ream, Jacquie Sep 2008 http://web.ebscohost.com.dml.regis.edu/ehost/detail?sid=d3bd0969-dd95-4e54-b94c-421629417111%40sessionmgr115&vid=1&hid=122&bdata=JnNpdGU9ZWhvc3QtbGl2ZQ%3d%3d#db=aph&AN=34561836
3 comments:
I share your concerns. I do not think texting is a bad thing, rather a way of life in the technology world today. Our educational systems must adjust to this by adhering to a rigid curriculum of English and writing while continuing to do teach our children cursive.
That is a very interesting statistic that teens would rather give up a relationship with the opposite sex than give up there cell phone. That just shows how it seems like it would be impossible to survive in life without a cell phone and the capability to text message. I don't believe that texting is a bad thing unless it is abused, such as bullying or texting and driving.
Also, I can see how it is affecting our tenn populations ability to write, spell and express feelings. It has spell check so you don't really need to know exactly how to spell the word, and teens are always using abbreviations for words, that aren't necessary really even "abbreviations." When my cousin who is in high school texts me some times I have a hard time understanding what she is saying because I don't understand half of the abbreviations that she is using.
Alyssa
I have a 14 year old daughter who sends/receives about 10,000 texts during the summer months. I happen to send/receive about 4000 a month so I have a slightly different view of texting teens than this article. My daughter is an amazing writer and has had many of her short stories published. She is writing at college level, and is able to keep the "text typing" out of her work. She continues to excel in school, and I have not seen any evidence that the amount of texting has had any effect on her writing.
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