Thursday, December 3, 2009

Wer na U, d2 n Me


I'm sure you've heard the lines 'weR nA U, d2 Na Me' before. When people started texting in this manner or what is known as "text speak," the concern was that texting, chatting online and emailing had eroded the writing skills (grammar, spelling, etc.) and overall communication skills of the general public.

A vwl hr or thr wld b mysteriously omitted to sve spce for the mssge. capitalization was non-existent or if it were, it would be iN tHiS mAnnEr. punctuations were nowhere to be found

The theory was that technology has made writing so informal that it has deteriorated. However, a recent survey of 3,001 students aged 9-16 conducted by the National Literacy Trust, suggests otherwise. According to them, "Children who blog, text or use social networking websites have better writing skills than those who do not. Engagement with online technology drives their enthusiasm for writing short stories, letters, song lyrics or diaries."

I have a 7 year old niece who spends a lot of time online and I believe she has her own email and cellphone. Once in a while she would message me on facebook chat and she would say "Hi. How are you?" She would also send me text messages every now and then or respond to mine. The result? I always end up forgetting that she's only 7 years old. I am always left amazed at how a little girl can communicate with me as though she were 3x her age. Experiencing this with my own niece, I believe there is some merit in the above cited study, the link to which is provided here:

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/technology/8392653.stm


Jat Tabamo (3rd Entry)

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