Texting and IMing

    Texting and IMing has become phenomenon for our generation. Texting could be ranked about as necessary as breathing, eating and sleeping for some teenagers. To be honest, I really don't understand why it is so "necessary". I've heard people they text in the shower, that they send over 100 texts a day, and that they sleep with their phone under their pillow so they can wake up if someone texts them. I think it's kind of sickening that people have to be in constant communication with each other every single second of everyday.

    Based on studies, surveys, and by just simply going to/working in a high school it's obvious how much texting and IMing is a part of everyday life. People text in class constantly, and in result are distracted from what is actually going on in class. However, that is not true for all. People have become so used to texting 24/7 that they really aren't that distracted at all- they multi-task.

    On another note, it is said that texting and IMing and the abbreviations/slang that go along with it are impacting student literacy in a negative way. Teachers have concerns that because students are so used to writing in that slang because of their constant texting, that it's the reason they are making silly grammar mistakes such as bad punctuation and using abbreviations when words should be written out fully. I do think that for some this is true. When ever I proof read peoples papers, I see that they don't know where to put comas, they put run on sentences or even start sentences with "And". However, they were once taught how to write. All of these errors are careless. If people took the time to read over their papers and homework , I'm sure they would pick up these errors themselves. It's not like students are using "lol" or "omg" in their papers.

    I do not think texting or IMing could/should be integrated in the classroom to improve literacy. There's no way to integrate it for the benefit of student literacy. I think that students read enough books, articles and other text in school and outside of school to know how to write properly. If they put "lol", ""u" or "omg" in their papers, that just shows carelessness. It's common sense that that isn't proper writing.

Comments

[Amanda Rigby]

I agree with your standpoint on the sickening dependency on texting in today's society. It's crazy to see how much the world has changed since the popularization of cell phones. I agree with your point of the insertion of 'lol', 'u', and 'omg' in people's papers as a form of carelessness. It is understandable that people have adapted to the technological era and change their language over texting to such abbreviations and words, but it is controllable. I agree that it is simple carelessness that occurs when such lingo pops up in schoolwork or essays. I also agree with your opinion on integrating texting into the classroom. I don't know how that would happen or even change anything. People have already become accustomed to writing in such a way, its almost an unbreakable habit, which is sad.

[Casey Levesque]

Once again I agree with your post Emily. Does someone really need to have their phone by them at all times? No, what is the point of that, they are depending on an object to predict their life. I agree that is is silly and careless grammar mistakes. Anyone can write a good paper if they put their mind to it and are less distracted by their phones, facebook, or even the television. Students could careless, that's their problem now a days. Teens don't want to worry about school, they want to be out and having fun. Students just have to realize when they are texting and when they are doing something for school, they need to separate the two and know when to use proper writing. Overall, I agree with what you mentioned in your post.