Jeremy Perkins

Professor Kuhn

SLA 101 01

26 February 2016

The Effects of Texting on Literacy

Literacy is defined as the ability to read and write. In today’s society texting is a major

part of just about every person’s daily life. Text messaging has developed more rapidly in the

past few years ever since smart phones were invented. With this uprising form of communication

that technology introduced comes the big question of whether this form of communication has an

effect on literacy. Text messaging is becoming a primary form of communication for various

people in the world. There have been several claims that the short hand and abbreviated

characteristics of text messaging are making our generation of children lazy, not forcing them to

use the proper English they’ve learned in school.

Texting has a great negative effect on students reading skills as well. People in our

generation are so used to reading electronic devices that they forget how to read a book with

words that are spelled the right way instead of short hand abbreviations. People have trouble

reading because they are used to quick instant response on devices. This causes people to

develop a lack of attention span when it comes to reading anything else. “Texting is everywhere

in our lives because, 25 percent of students under age eight, 89 percent of students ages eleven to

thirteen, and over 95 percent of students over the age of 15 on a cell phone.” (Stafford 124)

There is a direct correlation that as more people own cell phones and texting becomes more

popular, reading decreases in popularity.

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Critics around the world are saying that texting as a main source of communication is

destroying the thinking and writing of many young students all around the world. A critic states,

“the more students use tools like instant messaging, the less they are able to separate formal and

in formal English.” (Tech Nation) For example, teachers are beginning to notice errors when

students abbreviate “you” as “u”. Teachers all over the world are having these sorts of problems

with students, as well as, students no longer knowing how to punctuate properly. The reason for

this is, because when students text messages they often contain run on sentences and don’t

contain any punctuation. It is becoming more likely as more students receive cell phones at

younger ages for them to carry these bad habits to the classroom. Another concern of students is

that they aren’t using capital letters where they should be. One scholarly journal conducted an

experiment to test the general literacy ability of sixty-five 11 and 12 year old children in the

Midlands of England. The experiment required these children to translate sentences in English to

“chat speak” (I can’t wait to see you later tonight, is anyone else going to be there?) and then

translate “chat speak” into English (Hav u cn dose ppl ova dere?). They found that many of the

students used incorrect grammar and punctuation in their Standard English writing. Errors made

in translating from text language into English included missing words, missing punctuation,

textisms left un-translated (hav instead of hey), and simple misspellings (girlfriend instead of

girlfriend) (“Txt msg n school literacy…”, 3). The study also found that the students who texted

more made more errors than those who texted less.” (Tech Nation) This experiment proves that

texting has a negative effect on the way students in our generation write.

People are starting to lose an overall ability to listen and communicate. Every day

students walk down the halls of their school with their heads down texting on their phones.

Rather than communicating with all of the people around them they are texting and
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communicating with people somewhere else. People get so used to using these abbreviated

shorthand words and using slang that they do not even sound like they have any knowledge of

what they are saying. Besides not talking appropriately in the sense of spelling, grammar and

punctuation, some people do not even know how to talk to a person because of technology. They

have a hard time making eye contact, problems with being shy and a lack of general people

skills. This can effect people looking for jobs in the course of an interview or in public speaking.

Lastly, students are losing the ability to think and concentrate. Students are always worried about

who is texting them or what is going on in social media sites like Facebook, Twitter, and

Instagram.

It is inevitable to have a system of communication such as texting that is a written form

of communication and not allow it to have an effect on the overall literacy of society. Texting

negatively effects literacy in the areas of reading, writing, listening and communication at

astonishing rates. Texting has only become really popular in that last five to ten years and it is

already effecting the youth. Children are not only affected by texting but they are being affected

in the most crucial years of literacy instruction and the age of students owning phones just

continues to get younger and younger. One can only hope that parents and the school system will

continue to make a conscious effort to promote literacy in children in the future.

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Works Cited

Myhra, John “Negative Effects Of Texting In The Classroom” Tech Nation 3 Dec 2010
-. Web. 23 Feb. 2016.

Stafford , Veronica. “Texting and Literacy” (2015). From inquiry to academic writing: A text
and reader. Greene, S., & Lidinsky, A. Boston: Bedford/St. Martin's. 124-126 print.