Preview

Essay On The Effects Of Texting On Teen Literacy

Better Essays
Open Document
Open Document
1483 Words
Grammar
Grammar
Plagiarism
Plagiarism
Writing
Writing
Score
Score
Essay On The Effects Of Texting On Teen Literacy
What are the some of the effects that texting is having on the teen literacy? Text messaging has increased in popularity ever since the very first text message that was sent in the year of 1933 by a student who was working for the Nokia Corporation (Druoin and Davis 49). Centre of Science Education at Sheffield University discovered that more than ninety percent of the youth have cell phones and ninety-six percent of them use them to text. (Plester, Wood, Bell 137). The establishment of cell phones and texting has made a huge encounter on the way people communicate. Most people use their cell phones to text more than they do to make phone calls. Teenagers have observed that an average teenager sends a hundred textsin a day and 3,033 in s month. (Cingel and Sundar 310). Teens have the highest numbers of sent texts and the number is rapidly going up. Studies have shown that this form of communication is destroying the way people read, …show more content…
I surveyed numerous of students and got a lot of feedback and knowledge on high school and college freshman students. Most of the students said that informal writing have creeped up on them plenty of times. After doing research, I think that we can all agree that text messaging have made us forget some of our learning skills that we have been taught over the years. I have gained a lot of knowledge on how text messaging affects the literacy of teens. Some people would say that it is common sense not to use informal writing in papers, while other people say that if a person constantly uses informal writing it can become a habit. A lot of people that I surveyed said that informal writing have made them seen as if they were uneducated and not intelligent. Before doing any research, I would have said that I did not think that texting has affected teen literacy. After doing my research, I must say that informal writing has had a huge impact on teen

You May Also Find These Documents Helpful

  • Better Essays

    Text messaging has become an integral part of our lives; it has developed very rapidly throughout the world. With the uprising of new forms of communication that technology has introduced comes a debate on what effect these new digital mediums have on literacy. Text messaging is fastly becoming a primary form of communication for various numbers of people around the world. The mainstream media claims that the short hand and abbreviated characteristics of text messaging are making children lazy, not forcing them to use the proper grammar they learn in school. Feldman states that texting has become so popular that many have taken to calling today’s teens “generation text.” Texting is defined as the use of abbreviations and other techniques to craft messages sent through the cell phone. Texting does not always follow the standard rules of English grammar, nor usual word spellings. Literacy refers to more than reading and writing printed language. Plester, Wood and Joshi define literacy as the ability to decode information in various orthographic formats, including digital media, to make meaning from it, and to encode information into those formats to communicate ideas to others (3).…

    • 1047 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Better Essays
  • Good Essays

    Cullington’s article is about, even after much scrutiny, how texting actually improves people’s communication skills and academic writing skills. The reason that texting is heavily criticized is because students like to use incorrect grammar or use abbreviations to talk with each other (textspeak). Theoretically, it makes sense that texting should impair students’ writing; Cullington argues that is not the case. She argues that texting is just a fun form of communication, which students do not translate to their writing skills. “It provides students with motivation to write, practice in specific writing skills, and an opportunity to gain confidence in their writing (364).” Her article is in alignment with Jenna Wortham’s article because…

    • 154 Words
    • 1 Page
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Michaela Cullinton used evidences from sources like USA Today, Jacquie Ream and Naomi Baron whom all agree that texting has a negative affect on academic writing. Jacquie Ream was a teacher and author of K.I.S.S.-Keep it Short and Simple. In this book she wrote, “We have a whole generation being raised without communication skills.” I agree with Ream, our generation does not use the same communication that we used in past centuries. People of all age know what a text message, email, or…

    • 700 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    a. Cullington is a reliable source for the topic of texting and writing because she herself is a frequent ‘texter’ and as well a writer.…

    • 724 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    In the article “Texting, the Next Epidemic” by William B. Bradford, he addresses the issue of texting in our society. He states that texting is starting to tear apart the social fabric of our country. In the article, Bradford states that the United States has fallen behind in educational standards due to the lack of reading and writing involved with texting. He portrays to his readers that texting is making our social events not so social. He says that people go to restaurants and parties for social interaction just end up on their phones not talking to each other. Furthermore, he talks about how texting is creating a generation that is socially awkward and cannot read or write important papers or documents. Proving his point on whether the next generation will be able to govern our country without being able to think, speak, or write clearly.…

    • 494 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    With text messaging becoming more and more popular among teenagers, teachers are starting to notice a decline in proper writing and a lack of critical thinking. In Michaela Cullington’s article, “Does Texting Affect Writing?” she discusses the concerns and benefits of textspeak, a word she uses to explain the text messaging language. While conducting her research, she found a source from the National Center for Education Statistics that claims that “… only 25% of high school seniors are ‘proficient’ writers” (362). Acknowledging the small percentage of students writing proper, most people believe that this has to do with the new way of speaking on IMs. With abbreviations and acronyms, it is challenging for students to write differently from…

    • 373 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Better Essays

    Text messaging is the central structure of communication for teennagers. While teens may think shortcuts are helpful they may not understand the damage they are doing to their writing. While older generations consider it to be degrading to the English Language, over half of teens have come to the conclusion that texting has made their writing inapplicable. Although to some teens, shortcuts and proper English can still be effective. Researchers show that text messaging has been proven to have a negative effect on society, and to the English Language.…

    • 1684 Words
    • 7 Pages
    Better Essays
  • Satisfactory Essays

    2006: n. pag. http://www.google.com. Web. 10 Feb. 2011. . Communicating with people helps with our reading and writing skills. According to this article, texting actually helps people who struggle with reading because they are forced to read and understand texting when communication with people daily. Eventually everything dealing with learning will always have technology related. Going from abbreviating words in a text message to writing out words in essays for school is something teenagers can easily be comfortable with doing. When you are texting about something more serious it seems that everything is written out more than it is abbreviated. It all comes down to the situation whether or not it causes teenagers to be…

    • 782 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Satisfactory Essays
  • Good Essays

    Cellular devices and other technology has grown to be extremely popular. With this popularity technology has pervaded our lives and changed social interaction. Text messaging also known as texting is when people with cell phones send short typed messages. The rate of Americans sending text messages drastically increased year by year. Teenagers are large contributors to the presence of text messaging in society. The majority of the people into the texting frenzy are usually between 13 and 17 years old. In this paper we will discuss both the pros and cons of texting.…

    • 528 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Cullington points out some of the arguments that were made by those who believe that texting has detrimental affects on its writers. Some of the arguments that Cullington writes in her article are some statistics such as, “...according to the National Center for Education Statistics, only 25% of high school students are ‘proficient’ writers”(362), which implies that since teenagers are a large group of heavy texters, their writing is directly negatively affected by texting. Although there are only a small group of students who fall under the category of a proficient writer, texting is not the sole factor that contributes to the “poor skills” students are given. Some factors can be poor educational system or higher standards raised by those who create proficiency tests. Some other factors that give texting a bad reputation is the lack of punctuation included in texting. Cullington makes a statement that, “Many also complain that because texting does not stress the importance of punctuation, students neglect it in their formal writing”(363). Many people believe that since texting does not usually include punctuation due to its causal connotation, it will show in their formal writing. Through multiple experiences with friends and students, it is obvious when it is time to take the idea of texting out and begin writing a professional paper. With all the reasons why texting…

    • 1016 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Satisfactory Essays

    I was interested in this topic because my newphew is getting to that age where he wants a phone and will most likely start texting. He is a very smart child and would like to get as much information to see the pros and cons about teen texting and how it affects their literacy and social skills. I am glad you will be using the Shapiro Library as well. Best of luck to you also on finishing this weeks…

    • 80 Words
    • 1 Page
    Satisfactory Essays
  • Good Essays

    Some say that it is thwarting children's ability to effectively communicate both written and orally, and there are arguments saying that it actually helps children communicate better. In this essay I will be looking at both sides of the argument and trying to come up with a conclusion as to whether texting is actually destroying the English language.…

    • 502 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Powerful Essays

    9. Helderman, R.S. (2003, May 20). Click by Click, Teens Polish Writing; Instant Messaging Teaches More Than TTYL and ROFL. The Washington Post, p. B.01.…

    • 3720 Words
    • 15 Pages
    Powerful Essays
  • Good Essays

    Texting Addiction Essay

    • 711 Words
    • 2 Pages

    In today’s world there are many forms of communication. There is Email, phone calls, television, radio, newspaper, etc. These forms of communication are very helpful but, is it possible for something as simple as communication to rule over your entire life? It is possible, it’s called texting. Texting addiction is now a common thing. What started off as just a way to help us communicate to others is now infecting our minds. Texting can reduce human interaction and can make people become sort of strange or maybe even somewhat socially awkward. Even though texting can cause this, cell phones can actually be very useful. You just need to watch yourself and make sure you don’t spend too much time staring at that bright little screen.…

    • 711 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Powerful Essays

    See it? Hear it? Take it! This is still the mantra of many schools across the country that succinctly summarizes the policy concerning cell phones in schools; in essence, they are banned. Yet, most teenagers are nearly inseparable from their cell phones, not because they are constantly talking, but because they are connecting with their friends through text messaging. As a phenomenon, this was originally unprecedented and unpredicted, especially because text messaging capabilities were designed strictly for mobile phone companies to communicate with their customers.…

    • 2267 Words
    • 10 Pages
    Powerful Essays