Negative Effects Of Texting

The Texting Tool It’s eleven o’clock on a Thursday night and right before you go to bed, a tone too familiar pops up. Your friend asks through a text to read his essay, finding poor grammar and spelling abbreviations such as “bc” and “prob” , you begin to think to yourself, “ How can texting really find its way into my friends paper?” According to Michaela Cullington, in the article “Does Texting Affect Writing” Cullington had done some research of texting and how it will affect a writer’s behavior and grammar. There are definitely a large amount of people who believe that texting in fact, does affect a writer’s grammar. In response to those who believe that there is a negative effect are those who side with the idea that texting has a no
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
Some argue that texting invites writers to become more creative with their grammar. Cullington says that, “Texting also helps to spark student’s creativity…”(364), some people text so much that there are only a handful of ways to say something and eventually, a texter will have to evolve their grammatical skills to articulate their ideas into a message that doesn’t carry the same dull grammar that someone would use every day. Learning to evolve your grammar means that you will have to practice what you already know as well as things you don’t know. The article stated, “... that it [texting] not only teaches elements of writing but provides extra practice to those who struggle with the conventions of writing” (Cullington 364). Sometimes when I text messages to my friends, I do not understand how to spell a word or I incorrectly punctuate my sentences; thanks to autocorrect I can learn from my mistakes and it gives me the practice that I need for preparation of writing an essay or some sort of article in school. Texting is a tool and if used correctly, can help students create a better foundation for their grammatical