Why Texting and IMing are Ruining English

“I thought so Lol and when your busy we can talk longer BC wer not gonna text as much anymore threw out the day BC im working now”

“Are you there i past out”

“Witch is y you should meet me”

“Maybe ill here from you then”

“Guess your to busy”

“’Getting in the shower can you message me at this thing’ 

‘Intermittently’ 

‘What you mean’ 

‘adjective. stopping or ceasing for a time; alternately ceasing and beginning again: an intermittent pain’”

“I actually stopped someone an talked to him an I realized that he was a bumb an he said hey go into this building it's a soup kitchen an ask this dude an sit down have a cup of coffee so I did an there was a bunch of bumbs an they one of the guys came over an gave me this number an I called it an the dude said definitely he needs worker's an that he'll b calling me at like 5 today an now how have a friend for a bumb as well lmao I sat down an had lunch with him J there pretty cool people when you get to know them”

“Wow she is fucking siko”

    All of the above are texts or instant messages that I have received within the past month or so. If this does not make you stop and think about what the shorthand of instant messaging has done to young  people’s communication skills, then you must be one of the many illiterate young people out there who wouldn’t be able to write a professional sentence to save their life.

    Now, there is an argument for students who know the difference between writing a text or IM and writing a professional email or essay, but most students don’t. This is coming from someone who knows people first hand that think it’s okay to text their boss with gargled nonsense and lack of punctuation. I’ve received texts that are so far off from actual English that I’ve had to read and reread them several times to get a clear understanding of the message.

    I understand that the occasional typo or misuse of a word is forgivable in day to day text conversations, but when someone doesn’t even put forth the effort to try and sound intelligent is when it becomes a problem. We have spell checkers and autocorrect for a reason. Often the reason we use instant messages or texts is because we want the messages to come and go quickly. When you’re typing that fast without thinking, chances are you’re going to hit the wrong keys once in a while. But spell check can’t save you from misusing words like homophones that have their own meanings already. I can’t tell you the countless number of people I know who don’t differentiate between the words “your” and “you’re” or “there,” “their,” and “they’re.” Some people misuse these words so often that they don’t even see the difference anymore! When I see someone use the wrong homophone, my brain automatically stops and realizes the sentence doesn’t make sense, but some people can just read through without even cringing.

    There was a time when my friends and I joined this site where you get to chat with random people in your area. It was incredible how many people showed their terrible grammar within the first few messages. Are you not trying to make a good impression? I just ignored the people who couldn’t construct proper sentences.

    

    Communication is one of the most important skills you can learn. If you don’t know how to build an argument clearly and convincingly on paper, you are not going to be considered a trustworthy source. Given two people, one a very literate, convincing individual, the other a kind-hearted individual with little to no linguistic skill, you are going to side with the more convincing argument. Even if the first guy’s argument was for a bad cause and the other guy’s was for a good one. There is a reason so many bad people come into power or change the opinions of thousands of people. They know how to command an audience. If you don’t know how to make a simple grammatically correct sentence let alone pose an argument, you are going to be discredited almost immediately. You may have good points, but if I can’t read through your paper or article without wanting to shoot myself, then I’m not going to be on your side.

    Now that I’ve ranted about that, back to how texting is ruining our communication skills. There are two main sides to this argument. On one side, students these days are far more illiterate than they were before instant messaging technology existed. Because of the widespread use of texting and whatnot, grammar and spelling have become far less important to us. If we misspell a word or a word autocorrects to something that doesn’t make any sense, it’s easy to just follow-up with another quick text or IM with the correction or clarification. Whereas back then, if you mailed someone a letter but didn’t know how to write, chances are the person on the receiving end would have no idea what you were saying, and they would need to go through much greater lengths for clarification. Not only that, but it makes learning our language tremendously harder for foreigners. I’ve talked with many people from India online who use the number eight to make the ‘ate’ sound when they type to me. Not to mention the many other mistakes they make that seem to originate from talking to other Americans online who do not know how to communicate in their own native language.

    On the other side, some linguists claim that “language is not a static thing…and the changing sounds and phrases of a language are merely reflections of the changes in a particular society.” However, this is not merely a change in phrases or the way we say words. This is a change in what we consider the very basis of a language. We are assigning meanings to words or phrases that do not make any sense. Using “your” instead of “you’re” isn’t a language naturally adapting to societal changes, it’s just simply incorrect grammar. While texting and professional writing are clearly different, I do not believe that fact is clear among many young people. Even if you do know the difference between “through” and “threw,” there is no excuse not to type the correct one in a text or IM. They both take the same amount of effort to type. Schools need to put a larger emphasis on the importance of writing. Not just for the sake of writing persuasive essays and research papers, but just for the basic need for communication. Otherwise the English language—or any language—as we know it is doomed.