Texting : How It Is Ruining The English Language?

In the article “2b or not 2b”, David Crystal begins with discussing how others such as John Humphry argued that texters are “vandals who are doing to our language what Genghis Khan did to his neighbors 800 years ago. They are destroying it” (335). This is also the common belief of most people. People often argue about the bad points of technology over our language. However, Crystal believes that texting can improve children’s ability to read and write rather than hinder their literacy as many people claim. He also argues that not all texting are done in abbreviated words. Complex messages and institutional messages are often texted in standard form of

The result verified that there is evidence of a decline in grammar scores based on the number of abbreviations in their sent and received text messages (Swayne and Messer). In other words, the word abbreviations and punctuation short-cuts that famously used in text messaging can alter individuals’ ability to recognize and apply proper spelling, grammar and punctuation techniques in writing and daily life communication. If the uses of abbreviations are not controlled from the beginning, both sender and receiver of text messaging will be associated with how poorly they will perform on the test based on the level of standard literacy they have.

In the article, the authors reference the infamous AT&T BFF Jill commercial that aired in 2007, when texting and smart phones were just becoming popular. This commercial represents the idea that texting can have an influence on adolescents Standard English when talking out loud. This commercial also depicts the epidemic of texting lingo replacing Standard English that many people at the time feared. There were multiple receptions of the commercial exemplified in this article. The authors review the comments made about the commercial on not only the comment section of YouTube, but popular news channels such as

We as a society are evolving with each generation to come. We are getting stronger, faster, and smarter. Just as cell phones are no longer square blocks with numbers on them and TV’s are not in black and white, writing itself has also evolved. Once upon a time many wrote and spoke in a Shakespearean form of language and over the years it has evolved into something we call modern English. In recent years, technology has advanced greatly and cell phones have become one of our primary use of communication. With cell phones came a new form of writing called text messaging. Text messaging is used to send short, concise messages to anyone around the world. Often times text messages involve the use of abbreviations which stand for different things and also involves frequent use of emoji’s as a form of expression. This form of writing is now considered informal writing and is not acceptable in academic settings. In Michaela Cullington’s essay “Does Texting Affect Writing?” she touches on both sides of whether texting is hindering students writing or if it’s actually having a positive effect. She then makes is clear that she believes most students are educated enough to know when text speak is appropriate and when it’s not so therefore it has no effect on students. Although, I agree with her thesis, she lacks credibility due to her insufficient evidence. In addition, I also believe

Texting allows us to stay in touch with others in a most efficient way. We type a quick text, hit send, and in a matter of seconds our recipient has our text. Receiving a text is fast, but typing out a clear, concise

The abbreviation is usually caught in student’s paper as well as they are so used to it that they don't even recognize using it. That may cause a bigger issue when they start writing a job application or business proposal within using a bunch of shorthand and emoji faces. In fact, texting acronym and shorthand as “ttyl"( talk to you later) or “gr8” (great) restrict young writers’ mind. It shows a decline in building complete sentences or accomplished a critical idea. And yet texting does not “stress the importance of punctuation". However, It seems like Cullington is trying to persuade people to the opposite idea. The sources have an accurate data and those situation, such as teachers are complaining about their students are lack of writing skills which is blamed on texting addiction, are real. It’s obviously an evidence whether it’s limited or not. Nevertheless, Cullington believes that It just "based on just a few personal experiences rather than on a significant amount of

Abbreviations such as lol (laugh out loud), brb (be right back), and ttyl (talk to you later) are commonly used when texting, yet are not really shown in formal writing. Students reported that text speaking formal writing. “Other students use these abbreviations and other speak text in their writing, but catches their mistakes quickly”. (Cullington 364). Supporting her research Cullington asked participants to complete questionnaires’’… the research hypothesized that texting and the use of abbreviations would have a negative impact on students. However, the results did not support their hypothesis. (Cullington 369).

The subject of how technology is changing written English is a touchy subject; many people believe that our current technology is allowing us to become lazy. Text messaging being the ultimate reason we are taking so many short cuts when it comes to writing proper English. There are so many abbreviated words and meanings in text messaging, I sometimes find myself confused when I receive messages from people that I have to google what they are trying to say. I don’t want to respond and assume I know what they are trying say.

Though the power of text messaging has many benefits to it, the misuse of this technology can cause serious problems for society. With the ability to communicate instantaneously on a mobile device, society focuses more and more on their

I will analysing two articles one of them being John Humphry’s article “I h8 txt msgs: how texting is wrecking our language” and David Crystal “2b or not 2b” analysis of text messages looking at what kind of language do they use and other kind of language devices.

As stated in the introduction, when the first text message was sent in 1992 it provided the initial spark that digital communication needed. When T9 (predictive text) was invented in 1995 text messaging was bought to a whole new level, it made text messaging faster and therefore increased the use of text messages. People went from barely sending text messages to replacing face-to-face communication with them. But however useful T9 was it did have it’s downfalls, it was quite ineffective and quite often picked the wrong words this could of led to the use of abbreviations to avoid this problem. On the other hand abbreviations could be a product of older generations, as on the old pay as you go SIMS there was a 160 character limit, which could cause people to abbreviate simply to avoid spending more money on text messages.

Texting has many effects. When I think of texting many dangerous and unethical behaviors come to mind. We all know texting has a brief history, many people prefer texting to talking on the phone, and texting has its own problems when misuse. When we are texting communication is lost and is in considered of others and mostly affecting people’s health.

Texting is a fairly new form of communication that has taken the world by storm. It became popular around 2001, and originally had its limitations, such as the 160-character limit. But now that technology has advanced, texting has followed along and is now a convenient, casual, and a more immediate way of communicating. So naturally, texting has evolved also in terms of the language used within it. We see this mostly in the form of abbreviations and short hand spelled words. Some people argue that texting has ruined the English language. Studies and observations have shown that the benefits of texting and cyber speak are much more broad then expected. Textisms have been shown to increase phonology skills, brain activity, creativity and provide a relatable outlet for students in education.

We use abbreviations and emoji’s to get our point across. As college students we send so many texting messages that we do not realize that we hold on to those habits of using incorrect spelling and full sentences. Using this way of communication so often has caused college students to carry it over to formal writing projects. Texting is another form of writing, some would believe that it will help with our writing skills but at the same time it making us lose our depth when it comes to writing. Students don’t use a much detail when it comes to writing papers. Grammar gets affected and we get in the habit of abbreviating our words which do not help enhance our writing at all. This articles just goes through saying that texting reflects on a lot more than just students language skills.

Tweeters and texters try to refine sentences into a few characters, and this results in excessive use of abbreviations which makes it inevitable to miss some important information. Using initials of a word or totally different characters to form a shorthand acronym is unreliable and confusing. David Crystal wrote in his article that “No texter is entirely consistent and no two texters use identical conventions” (245). Someone who text CYA (see you) in a text message will most likely pronounce it the same way as his text, making it an unclear and unpleasant phrase for the listener. Critics say abbreviations save us time, and there is no connection between how we tweet and how we speak. I have been in many situations where I have to search for the meaning of an abbreviation in a text message. An abbreviation doesn’t necessarily save you time. To the contrary, the ambiguous nature of an abbreviation