Freshman Comp 2

Does Texting Damage or Help Writing Skills?

            In 1973, we were introduced to the very first cell phone that offered 30 minutes of talk time. Over the years, cell phones have advanced tremendously. It is 2019 and we now have countless shapes and sizes. As said, “Text messaging or "texting" was only developed and released to the public in the mid-1990s. By 2009, …texting was the second most common way to use the technology to communicate, after speaking person-to-person” (Techwalla). Using short hand in texting, it has started to carry over to the way people are writing. Due to the constant use of short hand, the way people write is being affected negatively

In the earlier stages of cell phones, flip phones were introduced, and they allowed people to text by using the 1 through 9 buttons. In order to send a text, you would have to press the number with the letters you wanted to type until the letter would show up on the screen. In today’s world, iPhones are in existence with touchscreens and on the screen, there is a whole keyboard as you would find on a laptop. All you have to do is tap the letter you want and you type your messages that way. Especially during the flip phone days, short hand was a major thing. Due to the time it took to type a message and send it, people would shorten their words or even use a letter in place of a word, such as “u” instead of “you” and “r” instead of “are”.

            In today’s world where social media is such a popular thing, of course just about everyone has an account on some form of social media. Especially on Facebook or Twitter, in order to add items to your account, you are to type a message to either send to someone or post to your wall. Within the space to type what you are wanting to say, you are limited to a specific number of characters that you can type. The limited number of characters one can use creates another opportunity for people to use short hand. Where people are constantly on their phones, practically addicted, there is always room for us to pick up habits.

To go along with social media creating way for people to short hand, taking notes in class is another way that people will use short hand. Using short hand while taking notes is more of a leeway to writing formal matters incorrectly. Where you are taking written notes, you are more likely to make a mistake while writing due to your brain thinking that you are still writing what you have been rather than starting a new piece in a more formal manner. It is common that you will be in a class trying to take notes and the teacher or professor is going faster than you can keep up so you will short hand your notes. Your next class you go into, you may have to do a short, in class writing. Where you just took notes, your brain is going to be accustomed to short handing, and unintentionally you will short hand in the rest of your writings.

            As time goes on, the number of children that are getting cell phones at a young age is increasing and with increasing cell phone numbers, this is creating for another opportunity to open up for children to be exposed to short hand.

“With children’s increasing use of mobile phones, concerns have been raised about its influence on their literacy skills. One well-known feature of children’s text messages is that they do not always adhere to conventional written language rules and use a register that is called textese. In this register, children make use of phonetic replacements, such as ur instead of your and acronyms, such as lol and drop words. This has led to the assumption that characteristics of textese may leak into children’s general writing, ultimately resulting in language deterioration” (van Dijk et all 2019).

With continuous booming populations, misspellings in more formal settings of writing is becoming more of an issue because it is starting at such a young age. Children’s brains are still developing while they are young, so when they are exposed to short hand early in life, they are more likely to make it a habit and carry it over to their lives in the future in their writings. “Edutopia’s informal poll, for example, found 53% believe students are carrying over the writing habits they pick up through text messaging into school assignments” (InformEd).  So, if we are to up the age on when we give our kids cell phones, then they will be less likely to develop more bad habits in their writings.

            In the end, what it all comes down to is whether or not you are able to successfully transition from short handing your texts to formally writing. It isn’t necessarily that no one is capable of flipping a switch to when it is time to be formal and when it is not, but it is just that people are becoming lazier and too reliant on resources that are going to correct their spelling for them. When I was growing up, short hand was a big thing, so it was weird to fully spell out every word as if I were writing on paper. Even though I didn’t have a flip phone to where it was typical to get lazy because of all the pushing of the buttons just to get one letter, I was still too lazy to type out all of the words. As I have gotten older, I have dropped the short hand and actually spell out all of the words that I am trying to send. At the end of the day, even though I type just about the same as I do when I write, I still know when to be formal, especially in my writing. I am not going to be lazy and short hand when it is time to be serious when writing a paper or emailing one of my professors. Although the way I talk in my texts is different than my other forms of writing, I still am capable of keeping the two separated.       

 

 

 

 

Works Cited

Bühler, Peter, et al. “The Impact of Texting/SMS Language on Academic Writing of

Students-What Do We Need to Panic about?” Bibliothek Der Mediengestaltung, 2 Feb. 2013

“Can Texting Damage Writing Skills?” Diane Hamilton, 14 Oct. 2010,

drdianehamilton.com/can-texting-damage-writing-skills/.

 

Gustafson, Lindsey P. “Texting and the Friction of Writing.” 2014

 

“How Does Text Messaging Affect the Ability to Write & Speak in English?” Techwalla,

 Techwalla, www.techwalla.com/articles/text-ability-write-speak-english_.

 

“LOL - Does Texting Harm Student Writing Skills?” InformED, 27 Aug. 2012,

www.opencolleges.edu.au/informed/other/lol-does-texting-harm-student-writing-skills/.

 

“News - Could Texting and Autocorrect Affect Kids' Writing Skills?” UAB - The University of

 Alabama at Birmingham - Home, www.uab.edu/news/youcanuse/item/4697-could-texting-and-autocorrect-affect-kids-writing-skills.

 

van Dijk, C., van Witteloostuijn, M., Vasić, N., Avrutin, S. and Blom, E. (2019). The Influence

of Texting Language on Grammar and Executive Functions in Primary School Children