The Impact Of Digital Technology On Children And Adults

In Michaela Cullington’s essay titled, “Does Texting Affect Writing?” the author tests the ongoing question of how today’s youth handles the effects of texting in the education system. Using successful evidence from both sides of the argument as well as participating in her own experiment, Cullington is able to fully demonstrate how texting does not interfere with today’s students and their abilities to write formally in the classroom.

In today’s society, digital technology became an important part of our daily lives. Advanced technologies such as smart phones, improved the connection and engagement with people around the world, and easily accessed information throughout the internet. However, many critics argued that these technology are causing negative influences among teenagers; for instances, many pointed out that texting affect the way we think and write, in which I strongly disagreed. There are no connection or comparison among texting and writing.

Although her study supports the hypothesis that texting and writing have no relationship to one another, Cullington (and the researchers whose work she analyzed) recognizes the significance of new technology and society’s evolving modes of communication. She writes, “The use of text mes- saging as a common means of communication is becoming increasingly popular; therefore, this issue should continue to be examined” (94). Not surprisingly, the popularity of texting has increased since the time of Cullington’s article and so too has research on its effect on student writ- ing. What Cullington may not have anticipated, however, are the ways in which texting itself has changed. How might innovations such as Internet access, various “apps,” and software advance- ments have changed texting in the mere two years since Michaela Cullington published her article in 2011?

We carry our cellphones with us at all times, and with all this online connection, you would think that stepping back and disconnecting is a huge achievement. But this is a new way of life. Nathan Jurgenson, in his article “The IRL Fetish” says, “We have come to understand more and more of our lives through the logic of digital connection. Social media is more than something we log onto; it’s something we carry within us. We can’t log off.”. He explains how we are so deeply connected with technology that it is nearly impossible to stay ‘old-fashioned’. We are learning to accept technological advancements because they are inevitable. In other words, to adapt to this new form of literacy is much easier than avoiding it. In recognition that texting truly is literacy, one English teacher had her students put excerpts of Richard III into “text speak” to show that they fully understand the material. Educators are embracing texting as a new form of learning because it clearly is not going away. Students enjoy texting as a way to escape reality and fail to recognize the literary benefits. Texting will continue to encourage students to read and write as well as improve spelling with phonological

People claim that new developments have caused kids to be so dependent on their devices, that they can't think for themselves. This claim can also be turned around by saying that technology has given kids more opportunities and chances to learn, and in particular, more opportunities to write (Source 7, Clive Thompson). An example of this is a study done at Stanford University, where it was discovered that Stanford students did a stunning 38 percent of their writing outside of the classroom (Source 7, Clive Thompson). With the developments of E-mail, texting, and social media such as Twitter, Facebook, and Instagram, younger people are constantly writing in their every day lives. In the past, people would, for the most part, stop writing once the finishes their education. Now however, people are more comfortable, and more used to, writing. And while the argument that technology has decreased level of the vocabulary and vernacular of young people is true in some cases, the increase in writing shown by young people has led to a greater ability to convey information to other people, and a greater comfort in talking to people they don't know (Source 7, Clive Thompson). As Andrea Lunsford says, "I think we're in the midst of a literacy revolution the likes of which we haven't seen since Greek Civilization" (Source 7, Clive

The second theme that emerged was the use of literacy practices as a social tool. Findings from the analysis of the literature on the adolescent learner and the social, emotional influences that may affect learning support the many instances I witnessed literacy being practiced as a social activity. Several students engaged in writing practices on a social media web page, others created written texts on their mobile devices, while others created visuals which they uploaded to social media sites (i.e. Facebook, Instagram). Updating posts, responding to a

In the essay “Does Texting Affect Writing?” The author, Michaela Cullington, does a study to figure out whether texting affects students writing skills, and she argues that texting does not affect student’s writing skills. Owing to her well-developed research, Cullington discover that some people consider that the using of abbreviations in text-messaging is affecting the writing skills of students while other believes the contrary, that texting helps student to write and express better their ideas (362). First, Cullington explains the opinions of those who believe texting negatively affects students writing skills, then those who believe text-messaging positively affects writing, and finally her own study.

This generation has experienced significant advancement in the technological world. It is a platform of which communication has become more efficient, specifically through text messaging. As technology and efficiency have advanced, so have the language ideologies surrounding them. Adult speakers of the English language have formed the ideology that text messaging are ruining the language. Texting and instant messaging are not directly influencing literacy, in fact, they introduce a new kind of literacy. From Variation to Heteroglossia in the Study of Computer-Mediated Discourse by Jannis Androutsopoulos, Always On : Language in an Online and Mobile World by Naomi S. Baron, From Statistical Panic to Moral Panic: The Metadiscursive Construction and Popular Exaggeration of New Media Language in the Print Media by Crispin Thurlow, Undergraduates ' Text Messaging Language And Literacy Skills by Abbie Grace, The Effects Of Text Messaging And Instant Messaging On Literacy by Lieke Verheijen, and Beverly Plester, Nengah Kemp, and Clare Woods’, Text Messaging and Literacy – The Evidence all make clear that this is a prevalent language ideology used to control the discourse of the English language.

Likewise, it made sense to trust that young people’s inclusion in texting with their friends who use textisms might have assumed a negative part too. With the majority of the data that has been assembled from all of the studies and displayed in this paper, it appears as though there are some clashing results. A number of studies recommend that using textisms in text messaging negatively affects one's education abilities, while others propose that messaging does improve literacy skills. After studying all the informations gathered, I am under the opinion that text messaging is adaptive and supplementary rather than necessarily

Thesis statement: In this paper, I will discuss how the frequent use of text messaging by teens today negatively affects literacy and I will offer suggestions that parents and teachers can implement and teach in order to raise reading, writing, and vocabulary skills.

The last decade has seen a huge increase of short message text messaging among the younger generations. Wood et al. conducted an intervention study about the relationship between texting and literacy. “114 kids were studied to find if there was a relationship between texting and literacy. Participants were divided randomly into an experimental group and a control group. In the experimental group they were given access to a mobile phone which they could use just for texting for ten weeks. Their text messages were transcribed exactly as written on the mobile phones. The children completed standardized pre- and post-tests on reading, spelling, and nonword reading.” The Internet is a good source for both individuals and society, but technology changes how people think making them seem less intelligent. People don’t notice how they sound while texting. Recent studies have shown that “When people, most likely children or teens, are sending messages on their devices they tend to shorten words and use non-standard written languages. Although, this allows people to send messages faster, it makes these people sound less intelligent because of misspelled words. Recent studies have proven that texting can have a positive effect on some children, but the slang that they use can affect their grammar skills.” All because of this people are sounding stupid because they can’t spell correctly. Any kind

Today, technology is transforming and evolving rapidly; at times it feels as if a new smartphone is being released every day. With these new technologies, we see both positive and negative effects influencing people of all ages. One of the major concerns about cell phone use is the impact texting has on the social communication of the world’s youths. In a quest to uncover the effects of texting, I will discuss to what degree texting is detrimental to the social communication between people in our society from my perspective, the positive aspects that are associated with the invention and evolution of texting, the negative consequences with regard to the social development of young people, whether I agree or disagree with John McWhorter’s perspective on texting, and whether or not texting is making people more intelligent.

In the era of technology, a large number of people text by mobile phone every day. Gradually, the telephone has been adapted to the needs of society and people also are more dependent on the telephone. In fact, the standing of telephone was already changed from a technological tool to a social tool (Marilyn, 2005). Texting is such an important communicate channel for teenagers, but what does texting mean exactly? Texting is an action which describes not using proper English grammar to send messages. Data suggest, 63% of all teens said they exchange text messages with other people every day. Until today, this trend is still continue developing. The most teenagers all said they cannot leave text in lives (Kuehn, 2012), does it affect school-aged children in literacy? Absolutely yes. Literacy includes writing and reading two different aspects, so the different aspects which impacts teenagers are different. Therefore, texting affected teenagers in different four aspects and the analysis for reasons will be showed in the following content.

Since the rise of the internet in the 1990s, and the sending of the first text message in 1992, technology has rapidly become essential to our lives in the 21st century. Our generation relies on phones to communicate instead of just talking in person or writing a letter. People are so connected to the internet that we forget all the little things that matter around us. Some say that it does have an impact on literacy, and others believe that it does not and that it is simply just another form of the English language. The biggest problem is that text messaging is a problem at school. Slang is damaging students’ writing and teachers are worried that children will bring slang words into the classroom and their writing. Text messaging has become detrimental to academic literacy.

Digital media has had a huge influences on the children in the various generations. One specific example is how differently children of each generation play. Before digital media children played outside more, they played hopscotch, dodgeball, sports, they played on the playground. They didn’t have devices in the home that were used for entertainment. After the invention of the television and arcade games digital media has been utilized as a way to entertain children.