by Stephanie Moore

Created on: July 19, 2009   Last Updated: July 20, 2009

I do not think that text messaging is destructive to the English language if the shortcuts are used consciously. Text messaging shortcuts are used purely to save time and space, not because the sender has developed an entirely different language. If students end up using text shortcuts in an academic setting, text messaging is not to be blamed; the student is responsible for "the writing on the wall" so to speak. If anything, the English language skills of the upcoming generation is being destroyed by the education in this country. Every year schools across the nation are being forced to make budget cuts that affect every program in the school. One program should not be affected by this: English. If students can not write, they have nothing.

Requirements are already being decreased for high school English classes, and students are losing the skills that they learn at an early age while they are surrounded by poor, lazy techniques on a daily basis. Text messaging could be considered one of these influences, but certainly is not the only one. A student who is conscious of the way in which they write while text messaging may be able to keep the different experiences of schoolwork and social time separate in their minds, so as to not mix them. I myself type everything out both through text messaging and Instant Messaging, another leading cause of slipping English skills. When I write academically I am never tempted to use shortcuts because I never use them.

If people can learn not to use the shortcuts, or learn to use them consciously, then eventually they will learn to keep them separate and not use the shortcuts in academic settings. I do not think that text messaging is singlehandedly causing the destruction of the English language; I think that there are many causes for the declining English skills in our young people. I believe that every person can make the choice to retain their English skills in whatever forms of media they use, or to consciously keep the different forms of writing separate with careful deliberation. I see text messaging as a new form of communication to be embraced and learned about, not something to shun and blame for the problems of our society, because if we blame every thing that MIGHT have had an impact on a negative development in society we will never get anywhere.

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