Kids are losing traditional methods of writing:
It is quite a common sight, in schools, trains, buses and roads, to see children glued to their smart phones and tapping away. While they can write a text message in less than a second, it is becoming harder for students to formulate complete sentences, with proper grammar usage and no spelling mistakes.
Children frequently use terms like kinda, sorta, lyke etc instead of their proper forms. We see that children are losing touch with traditional methods of writing. Let us discuss how this infatuation with texting and chatting is ruining the students’ ability to write grammatically correct sentences.
Shorthand writing- the newest trend!
Hw r u? C u l8r! C u @ 9! These are just a few examples how texting language works. Everything is typed using a short hand. Now, children use wud instead of would, f9 instead of fine and so and so forth. No wonder students don’t understand the basic grammar rules and have low vocabulary knowledge!
While typing like this may save a few seconds, students get used to this short hand as they use it quite frequently. So, when they are writing their college assignment, they unthinkingly use the same shorthand.
Acronyms being added to dictionaries!?!?
OMG! (Oh my God)
TTYL! (Talk to you later)
LOL! (Laughing out loud)
ASAP! (As soon as possible)
TBH! (To be honest)
FYI! (For your information)
These are some of the acronyms widely popular, now not just in texting language. Now, OMG, LOL and FYI have been added to the Oxford Dictionary, and it’s not long when others will be too. Not only is this inclusion of these words in a prestigious dictionary embarrassing, but it is also a question, what are we leaving our next generation with?
What next?
We are a generation who doesn’t know the correct usage of then, than, whose! It is imperative that we start reading books to educate ourselves about proper grammar usage and vocabulary.
We should understand that although the usage of shorthand and acronyms is quite alluring, but the implications are far greater and worse as it is quite a slippery slope.
As parents and as teachers, we should be in our capacity to teach students about the implications of text messaging language and try to change their course into adopting the proper methods of writing.