My teacher likes to call this “lazy writing.“ Not in the sense that the student isn’t trying, but in the sense that they sometimes use their texting language in a place where it isn’t accepted. English class. Research papers. At work. All situations that will have you get higher in life; will be hindered by the fact that you misspell many words on paper. Cell phones are continually being used in people’s lives (Jzeal). It is completely immersed in a teens culture, and still becoming rapidly even more popular (McNamara). You may say it’s not that much of a growing problem. It is if you have thirty-six percent of teens texting every day (Lenhart). A tenth-twelfth grade girl even said she puts “in twenty hours per week plus texting” (Lenhart). Fifty percent of High school teens converse daily, and high school is where your academics are most critical (Lenhart). Eighty-five percent of teen daily are using technology, including cell phones, as the main way they communicate then ever before, and some are blind to how it is affecting their academics.
Many teens, in fact, sixty percent in a study with a hundred teens, do not consider texting as “writing” (Lenhart). The irony is, texting affects writing. Even with teens not considering it to be English class material, they apply it to their English papers and essays. In an survey done by Pew Project, sixty-four percent admit how some texting language integrates itself into their papers (Lenhart). Same survey asked how many times they use improper grammar, and fourty-six percent who “do not communicate daily with friends” said they do. Compare that to the seventy percent who have “daily communication activities” and said they use improper grammar (Lenhart). That shows a direct correlation to how the increase of texting has teens using more improper writing. Thirty eight percent of teens also incorporate “text shortcuts” like LOL, JK, IDK into several of their papers and essays (Lenhart). If that many teens think its okay to add “text shortcuts,” and improper grammar, then it might be unsettling to hear that eighty percent of parents think “there is a greater need to write well today than there was twenty years ago” (Lenhart). If parents think that, then the fact that many teens cannot differentiate real English words, shortened text words, or apply one or the other correctly to their papers, is not good to hear.
Texting affects how their writing is interpreted, but it also affects a teens sometimes inability to describe imagery and detail. Teens write a lot. Improper writing can be fixed and revised, but when twenty five percent of teens are applying emoticons instead of words, it becomes an even bigger problem (Lenhart). They get comfortable with being able to attach a picture or video to describe a scene, and when they are faced with having to describe it with words, it becomes a struggle (Ferris). Ferris considers texting and online language to be called hypertext, and teens have a hard time taking hypertext out of an English paper. This may seem like a casual deal if teens do not write often, but they do. When asked if teens write outside of school, thirty-one replied yes. Writing for school is something all teens do across the world, and when fifty percent of teens are saying they write every single day for school; hypertext needs to end. The more teens feel hypertext is a casual way to write a paper, the more unsophisticated writing will become.
Texting is used often, it affects writing, and teens today frequently write for school. Hypertext is unfortunately being used more and more often by teens in their essays and papers. They are having trouble differentiating text language to the English language. If teachers start to correct students of this error earlier, and show more of where grammar is placed, teens in this decade will have more of a chance of achieving better academically. With better academics and their ability to separate text language from English language, they will achieve more in the future of their life, whether it be college or jobs. Teens will be more successful overall in life, and that’s the most we can ask for.
WORKS CITED
Ferris, Sharmila Pixy. "Writing Electronically: The Effects of Computers on Traditional Writing." The Journal of Electronic Publishing. JEP, Aug. 2002. Web. 31 May 2011.
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Jzeal. "The Effects of Technology on Teens | Teen Hot Topic Essay." Teen Ink | A Teen Literary Magazine and Website. Teen Ink. Web. 23 May 2011.
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Lenhart, Amanda. "Writing, Technology and Teens." The National Commision on Writing. PIP. Web. 23 May 2011.
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McNamera, Melissa. "Teens Are Wired ... And, Yes, It's OK - CBS News." Breaking News Headlines: Business, Entertainment & World News - CBS News. CNN, 13 June 2006. Web. 23 May 2011.
