About language or literature

According to Newsweek online magazine, texting could possibly be the death of the English language. I think all this rapid change in technology and ways of communication could have some good effects and bad effects on the English language. “Textese” is a nascent dialect of English that subverts letters and numbers to produce ultra-concise words and sentiments. There is fear that with a world of developing technology, people will be socially illiterate. With technology such as, phones, computers, iPods, the Internet, emailing, and Iming, it is easy to communicate with others. The question many people are asking; is all this technology hindering our ability of socialize and interact with other human beings? Or is this rapid advance in technology just making it easier to communicate with other people?

When the time comes to actually interact with other human beings, people are hesitant and uncomfortable. This is because they are so used to hiding behind phones and the computer. This year the world is on track to produce 2.3 trillion messages a year nearly 20 percent increase from 2007 and almost 150 percent from 2000. That goes to show how often and frequently people communicate by messaging. People are communicating with each other faster then ever. Some people worry that as textese drops consonants, vowels, and punctuation, it makes no distinction between letters and numbers. People will no longer know how we're really supposed to communicate.

“Will text messaging produce generations of illiterates?” Many people seem to think so, especially aging adults. This generation of people did not grow up with the technology that kids are growing up with today. When the aging people in America grew up; there wasn’t any way to communicate except writing letters and talking on the phone. Things such as texting, iming, and email were not available, so it is easy to understand why this generation is having a hard time accepting these new ways to communicate. The older people think if they were able to talk and stay in touch when they grew up with out texting, emailing, and iming, than why can’t these kids do the same? They see it as unnecessary to constantly be texting on the phone or emailing on the computer.  It is easy to understand why the generations today are so used to this advancing technology. They grew up with it.

Teachers are also starting to notice the effects of this high-tech generation. Some students carry their texting lingo over to there school work. Other educators see little evidence that the language of texting is having a negative impact on students' schoolwork. “In fact, some are even glad that students are communicating so frequently through writing and are creating their own language.” There are many mixed views on todays advacing technology.

In conclusion we can see that there are pros and cons to the technology today. It is easy to stay in touch with others via text messaging, emailing, and using cell phones, but in ways it is also hindering our ablity to socialize with our peers, parents, and teachers.

By: Gab Gagliardi