The Effects of Texting on the Engligh Language

877 Words4 Pages
Texting is the process of sending short messages, usually less than 160 characters, from a mobile phone. It provides a means of sending a text to anyone, no matter where they are, so long as there is signal coverage from their mobile provider. Texting is considered as the quickest and most reliable means of communication, gaining worldwide popularity with over 6.1 billion SMS messages sent, just in 2010. However is this ‘technology phenomenon‘ ruining the English language or is it broadening it? Are teenagers over using abbreviations or are they merely being blamed for the ever present illiteracy within our language? This essay will explore the varieties and attitudes to texting, specifically accessing the stereotypical view of the use of abbreviates when teenagers text. Teens are now using texting more and more regularly with 55% of all world wide mobile users, who SMS more than once a day, being 18 years old or younger, but is this stereotypical view ‘dat all tngrs tlk lyk dis tru?’ I think not. My research shows that on a regular 78% of people ages under 24 don’t abbreviate, with a mere 22% abbreviating regularly. This figure alone could change the views of many of the public, them being able to see how infrequently abbreviations are actually used by young people. I bet that they would not think that 42% of people aged 25 or over regularly abbreviate an astonishing figure when compared to the almost half amount of younger people. Against popular belief stemmed from reports, underlining the few cases showing a negative effect that texting has on the english language, it seems that far more ‘adults’ abbreviate when texting than younger people. When looking at the difference between younger and older people, (for the purpose of this essay I have included people aged 25+ as older because people 24 or younger are the main focus on texting illiteracy in a

More about The Effects of Texting on the Engligh Language

Open Document