Devin Dadigan
WRT 205
Professor Yonker
5 February 2008
Noguchi, Y. (2005, December 29). Life and romance in 160 characters or less. Washington Post. Retrieved January 23, 2008, from http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2005/12/28/AR2005122801430.html Noguchi argues that there is a whole new meaning to brevity with the newest electronic written culture called text messaging. In fact, since text messaging only allows for 160 characters, users are learning how to be more concise and using more abbreviations and shortcuts of the English language than they did in the days of instant messenger. Some individuals like text messaging, because it helps them express emotions that they normally would not be able to articulate in person. However, Noguchi suggests that this reliance on text messaging could cause social problems such as, lack of expressing feelings, weak personal skills, and public speaking difficulties. Barker, O. (2006, May 29). Technology leaves teens speechless. USA Today. Retrieved January 25, 2008, from http://www.usatoday.com/tech/news/techinnovations/2006-05-29-teen-texting_x.htm This generation of teenagers has shown a poor ability to speak in public and will not likely be able to conduct professional discussions, because they are too reliant on communication devices such as text messaging, email, and instant messaging. A 2005 report states that employers were dissatisfied with 45% of college graduates, since these recent graduates struggled with personal skills and had trouble communicating with fellow employees. The argument is made that teens will not be able to spontaneously answer questions in interview situations, because they are unable to think on the spot. Instead, teens are text messaging and instant messaging non-stop, thus enabling them to reread conversations and rethink their choice of words before speaking (sending the message). As the author puts it, “The oral kinds of conversations are becoming as uncomfortable as braces.”
Thurlow, C. (2003). Generation txt? The sociolinguistics of young people’s text-messaging.
Discourse Analysis Online. Retrieved January 26, 2008, from http://scholar.google.com/ scholar?hl=en&rls=DGUS,DGUS:2006-21,DGUS:en&q=text+messaging+digital+cultur
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Cultural critics agree that we live in an age where the diminutive, brief, and simple are prized in communication. These critics looked at various aspects of text messaging to find social patterns in our culture. This study, examining what people are using text messaging for and to what extent they are using the convention English language, shows that people text mainly to maintain friendships and arrange social activities. The study also found that text messaging is quite intimate, and people are more likely to express their feelings in a message as opposed to face to face communication. Barr, J., & Rovegno, L. (2006, May 31). Text appeal. Outside the Lines. Retrieved January 27, 2008, from http://sports.espn.go.com/ncaa/news/story?id=2461072 Text messaging is becoming one of the most popular ways to recruit high school athletes. Under NCAA regulations, text messaging is not considered a phone call; so many collegiate coaches are taking advantage of this loophole. Some highly recruited high school athletes are receiving up to 20 messages a day, which some think is an invasion of their privacy—not to mention a disruption in their daily activities. Text messaging has completely changed the college recruiting process and is now a set standard in our culture. Strong, G. (2007, October 2). Has txt kild the ritn wd? The Age. Retrieved January 26, 2008, from LexisNexis database. Strong argues that English has always been a language that has sponged up other linguistic and cultural influences. Now our society is expressing its feelings in text pictures called emoticons. Since we live in an age of short attention spans and text messaging allows us to avoid uncomfortable confrontations, people text their feelings using emoticons—without unveiling their true tone of voice. Accepted IM words such as LOL are being used to convey emotion, and now some teens have added these acronyms to their everyday English vocabulary. English experts strongly resent the idea that people are expressing emotions in text messages with these little pictures and phony words, because emotion is much more than LMAO or (:-S).
