In this 21^st century, the young generation, especially kids in schools and students in colleges keep on striking the keys of a device particularly the cell phone, the most used interactive media. They do this when walking, talking, eatingand reading and even when the teacher is in front of them. Text messaging is a current development in the area of communication technology and is the most favorite activity among the young people. However, the question still stands, is texting creating a “modern problem” that is making kids lose their ability to write and spell properly? Or is this evolution of our language a positive change in our society?This paper supports that texting is a modern problem that is making kids lose their ability to write and spell properly.

An article found in USA Today explains that the world is a having a generation that is being raised without communication skills(Cullington90). Because of the lack of communication skills, students do not write well. In the article, Ream Jacquie, a former teacher blames the use of shorthand and acronyms in text messaging as the cause of students’ inability to spell and write correctly. She also highlights that students struggle to communicate emotion in their writing because, in text messages, emotions are usually oblique smiley faces (Cullington90). Kids only mimic the information they are given rather than using it tobuild up their ideas and thoughts. Jacquie concludes by stating that text messaging has shaped a generation that cannot produce new ideas, and if they do, they cannotshare them with the rest of the world. This is because they cannot write and spell properly. Therefore, ideas cannot be well communicated.

Much research shows that many teachers notice the decrease in writing abilities among their pupils and students. They link this decline to anincrease in text messaging and use of abbreviations. Baron Naomi, a professor at American University was worried about the rise and popularity of texting messaging among kids and students (Cullington91). She blamed texting as the cause of writing problems among the American society. Now that this is evident, should teachers worry or laugh out loud?LOL as abbreviated by the kids? Teachers have reported of finding textspeak such as ‘gr8’ for great, ‘2’ for to, ‘wut’ for what, ‘dat’ for that among others in their students’ essays and term papers(Nauert 1). Another teacher of seventh and ninth grades reported that she spends extra time in editing papers and reminding her students that it is not acceptable to use abbreviations and text slang in writing. Other proponents argue that texting interferes with standard written English as students do not learn how to write correctly. This is because they are constantlytexting their friends and relatives using textspeak. Some teachers believe that texting has become second nature to students as they are used to it and usually they do know when they do it.

Many teachers also complain that texting does not stress the significance of punctuation. Students ignore it in their academic writing. Students forget apostrophes, commas and capital letters students are indeed failing to follow correct spelling and punctuation rules as a result of constant texting. Also, texting affects writing in that text messages lack emotion. This is because texts are brief, short and to the point. Using words to communicate writing is an important aspect of writing. The reader understands and feels what the author feeling. Since students cannot communicate emotion through texts, they may fail to so in formal writing (Rafi 7). In order to get an individual view on the question of texting and writing/spelling, I interviewed two English teachers from my former school; my junior and senior English teachers. Both teachers stressed the importance of writing in the English course. They said that text abbreviations have affected their students writing in that students write incomplete sentence and improper sentence structure. They said that text messaging inhibits good writing. Though the views of these teachers were limited on few personal experiences with their students, they show that text messaging affects academic writing.

Though text messaging is getting richer and complex every year, it is not a good language and corrupts Standard English. According to the words of a colleague who sends an average of ninety messages every day, she said that she started using the cell phone a year ago and though initially she used to chat with friends, she currently finds herself abbreviating words not only when writing class notes but also when writing essays. However, she does not notice when she does so. This is an example of how students find themselves abbreviating words in their notes and essays. Their fondness in textspeak causes mistakes in spellings. Therefore, they spent too much time correcting them(Shaw, Carolynand Mickey 9).

This paper has argued that texting is a modern problem that is making kids lose their ability to spell and write well. Though opponents explain that it foster understanding of English language. Research and personal opinions have confirmed that texting affects students writing skills and grammar rules. Their essays and term papers contain abbreviations that are not part of written Standard English. Therefore, teachers should put more effort in encouraging their students to write traditional English even when using their laptops, mobile phones and other technological devices.

Works Cited

Cullington, Michaela. Texting and Writing. Spotlight on First-year Writing. Marywood University, 2010. Print.

Nauert, Rick. Texting may Undermine Language, Spelling Skills. PsychCentral, July 29, 2012

Rafi, Muhammad S. SMS text analysis: Language, gender, and current practices. Online Journal of TESOL France, 2010. Print.

Shaw, Donita M. Carolyn, Carlson and Mickey, Waxman. “An Exploratory Investigation into the Relationship between Text Messaging and Spelling.” New England Reading Association Journal 43 (2007): 57-62. Web. Nov 8, 2009

“Texting, Testing Destroys Kids’ Writing Style.’ USA Today Sept. 2008: 8. Academic Search Elite. EBSCO. Web. Nov 9, 2009