impact of texting over teen literacy and social communication

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Journal of Knowledge & Communication ManagementVolume 3 Number 2 October 2013 pp. 121-132DOI:

Impact of Texting Over Teen Literacy and Social Communi-cation

Surya Rashmi Rawat1*, Saakshi Sharma2, Abhilasha Kanda3, Shinjini Lama4,Aman Sharma5

1Assistant Professor, 2,3,4,5BBALLB Student, Faculty of Law, Symbiosis Law School, SymbiosisInternational University, Pune 411004, Maharashtra, IndiaEmail id: *[email protected]; [email protected];[email protected]; [email protected]; [email protected]

ABSTRACT

Communication is a process of exchange of ideas between two parties. It can happen through words-oral or written, gestures, signs or symbols. This exchange of words may take place in any language,provided both the parties understand it. English is one of the highest spoken languages in the worldtoday and hence is duly regarded as the international language. However lately, the dynamics of thislanguage is progressively changing. Increased use of text messages, Instant Messages and variousother forms of social communication seem to have made our generation oblivious of the notion ofpunctuation and grammar.

“Cn u plz tke dis wid u n w8 4 sum tim der? Rply fst, as I hve wrk”

The above, more or less illustrates the current trend as to how we communicate today. Sentences arelosing their sanctity, words their characters. This research paper thus aims to dwell upon the effects ofshort-hand texting on teen literacy and its impact on social communication. Our research methodologyis based on information collected from both primary and secondary data.

Keywords: Text, Language, Effects, Communication, Research

1. INTRODUCTION

It is a common belief in society, that there are three essentials for a peaceful existence of anyhuman being, i.e. food, clothing and shelter. However, in the modern times, this list has beenexpanded to include cellphones as well, under this very category of essentials. Right from aneconomically challenged vegetable vendor, to a Grade X student who is yet to learn some of his/her life’s lessons, or a multi-millionaire businessman, if there is one thing common amongst themall; it’s possession of a cellphone. Cellphones today have thus become the lifeline of almost all

*Corresponding author

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122 Volume 3 Number 2 October 2013

Surya Rashmi Rawat, Saakshi Sharma, Abhilasha Kanda, Shinjini Lama, Aman Sharma

individuals and it’s as if life would come to a halt in case these indispensable tools of socialcommunication ceased to exist.

The most widely used feature of cellphones today is text messaging. Anywhere you go, you canfind people of all ages glued to their mobile phone screens, fingers typing away. We see them inschools, on the sidewalks, in the cars, sitting in their cubicles, attending a classroom, sitting in ameeting or even eating at some restaurant. People are busier texting that talking to people sittingright next to them physically. The biggest outcome of this, is the development of the so called“texting lingo” wherein dictionaries are proved wrong, words are reduced to half their actual size,usage of vowels is almost on the verge of extinction and the English Language is on the brink ofa major breakdown.

Various researches and case studies have been conducted by scholars and professors alike on thisgrappling issue, all over the world analysing both positive and negative effects of the same. Theyconclude that modern day children have grown up surrounded by mobile phones and text messagingall around them. Quite naturally they consider it to be an essential part of their everyday life. Thehigh usage of text messaging amongst kids these days has therefore caught the attention of awide number of research groups.

Modern day children have grown up surrounded by mobile phones and text messaging all aroundthem. Quite naturally they consider it to be an essential part of their everyday life. The high usageof text messaging amongst kids these days has therefore, caught the attention of a wide numberof research groups and the effect of texting on the academic performance has become an issue ofgreat debate.

2. REVIEW OF LITERATURE

Barone and Elizabeth (2011) in their thesis have described the history of the written word and theevolution of language. According to the paper more than 88% below the age of 25 prefer textingto calling. It further reveals that students with exposure to the texting lingo are better at verbalreasoning and language usage since they are “able to recognise speech and rhyme patterns”. Thestudy also goes on to say that texting poses detrimental to students in that it is a very big distraction.Also, it’s not easy for every student to juggle between two forms of writing and a lot of them endup using the wrong language at the wrong place.

According to Blake Hogan et al. (2012), majority of the professors and students believe thattexting does more harm than good. Most of the professors admitted to being able to decipher thetext language but only because of exposure to it for a long time. A majority of the professorsinvolved said that every time an assignment was given, more than 5% of the assignments werewritten in the text lingo as opposed to formal English. The study also revealed that texting whiledriving has become one of the major causes of road accidents.

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Journal of Knowledge & Communication Management 123

Impact of Texting Over Teen Literacy and Social Communication

Agathe Battestini et al. (2010) conducted a study using 70 university students in the UnitedStates. Almost 60,000 text messages over a period of 4 months using a custom logging tool onour participants’ phones. The results suggested that “students communicate with a large numberof contacts for extended periods of time, engage in simultaneous conversations with as many as9 contacts and often use text messaging as a method to switch between varieties of communicationmediums.” The ways in which the text language has evolved over the years has also been analysedin the paper.

Louise Brown, Tess Kalinowski (2007) quoted, “Couples end up in marriage counselling becausethey can’t get an appointment in their partner’s BlackBerry. You see 80 per cent of executive’s textmessaging during meetings.” The author talks about how the old ways of communication arebeing readily done away with in order to embrace the new fad of text messaging. Most of thefamily members prefer texting to spending time with each other which is leading to disintegrationof family ties. He also talks about how the kids and students are suffering from attention deficitdisorder due to increased exposure to cellphones.

As is the case with everything, there are certain positives as well as certain negatives of textmessaging.

2.1. Good effects of text messaging

In a study done by Beverly Plester et al. (2008), students were asked to translate text messageswritten in abbreviated language, to the normal English language. Results showed that childrenwho were quicker at decoding text messages scored better in the verbal reasoning test. Thus, itwas concluded that decoding the texting lingo actually results in exercise of the brain and henceproves beneficial to the students.

An important aspect of text messaging is that it has been incorporated into the mainstreameducation system of some institutions, as a means of depicting the evolution of English as alanguage. The study conducted by Vosloo (2009), shows how a teacher in the United States usestext messages from the past decades and contrasts them to modern day text messages to explainto students the constant changes and developments in social communication.

2.2. Disadvantages of Texting

However, this texting has many ill effects too on the society and their intensity is such that theycannot be simply ignored. In the following section, we will be elaborating upon texting as asocietal bane.

Text messaging also leads to acute addiction problems, making people apprehensive to checktheir inbox constantly and keep in touch all the time. It may sound humorous and far-fetched,but, in an editorial, The American Psychiatric Association (2004) included text messaging as partof a disorder known as “Internet addiction.” This disorder is characterised by excessive text

https://www.researchgate.net/publication/228400032_Txt_msg_n_school_literacy_Does_texting_and_knowledge_of_text_abbreviations_adversely_affect_children's_literacy_attainment?el=1_x_8&enrichId=rgreq-544f5a3a79a0a9c31b314e0029f624e9-XXX&enrichSource=Y292ZXJQYWdlOzI3Mzk5MzEwMDtBUzoyMTM1MDQ2NDE1MDczMjhAMTQyNzkxNDg4MTU4Mg==

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messaging with a loss of sense of time or neglect of basic duties, withdrawal symptoms, such astension and anger, when text messaging was not allowed and negative repercussions, such aslying, arguments, social isolation and fatigue. Text-message users may develop the same kind ofattachment to their phones that drug addicts have for their narcotics.

According to Peter W. Johnson et al. (2013), prolonged use of text messaging is linked to physicalailments in a user’s thumb. Repeated text messaging could cause temporary or permanent damageto the user’s thumb. Many other studies by ergonomic researchers have also shown that theposition of the body when someone is text messaging puts pressure and strain on the neck andshoulders and causes pain and discomfort.

3. OBJECTIVES OF THE STUDY

The main objective behind this research paper is to measure the quantum of effect over the usageof English language in its actual, pure form, due to the new-age practice of short hand texting.Special attention has been given to students; the major issue being whether the abbreviated formof writing in text messages has hampered the ability of the students to write the unadulteratedversion of the English Language. The study aims to seek the correlation between the textinghabits of the students and their ability to write the formal language.

3.1. Research Methodology

For the purpose of this research paper, both primary and secondary sources of information havebeen used.

The primary sources consist of a sample size of 50 people, belonging to Generation Y, i.e. mostlyteenagers and people in their early 20s.This sample was chosen mainly because their lifestyle ismost synonymous with the era of texting and that they are the most affected because of thisgrowing trend. Each one was made to fill in a questionnaire, which focused mainly on presentday texting practices and their influence over writing in general and academic writing in particular.

The secondary data includes information collected from analogous research papers, case studiesand articles that were sourced from the internet, as well as newspapers and magazines.

3.2. Limitations

The main limitations we faced in the process of carrying out this study were–

a) A sample size of mere 50 is not accurately reflective of the entire society. Although an effortwas made to cover participants from all three generations, a small number of participants stillpose an obstruction in deriving the majority view of the society as a whole.

b) Secondly, even though the survey questionnaires were filled by the participants, most ofthem refrained from giving away their personal details and answered keeping in mind socialconformity.

https://www.researchgate.net/publication/224977376_Using_electrical_stimulation_to_measure_physiological_changes_in_the_human_extensor_carpi_ulnaris_muscle_after_prolonged_low-level_repetitive_ulnar_deviation?el=1_x_8&enrichId=rgreq-544f5a3a79a0a9c31b314e0029f624e9-XXX&enrichSource=Y292ZXJQYWdlOzI3Mzk5MzEwMDtBUzoyMTM1MDQ2NDE1MDczMjhAMTQyNzkxNDg4MTU4Mg==

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4. RESEARCH FINDINGS, DATA ANALYSIS AND INTERPRETATION

A survey questionnaire consisting of 9 questions was filled by 50 people, mainly belonging to theage range of 18 years – 25 years.

The question-wise data collected has thus been depicted onto the following pie charts andhistograms – According to Figure 1, 77% of the respondents agree to conveying messages viatext messaging. While 4% do not and the remaining 19% occasionally send convey messagesthrough texts. This is indicative of the fact that texting is fast gaining popularity and is steadfastlyreplacing all other forms of communication.

Figure 1

Figure 2

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Figure 2 reveals that 12% of the respondents say they send 0-15 texts a day, 22% say they onlysend 20-40 texts a day, 49% say they send 40-70 texts a day and 17% say they send more than80 texts a day. Thus, it can be said that a minimum of 40 texts are sent daily and some people evengo ahead and send more than 80 texts per day which frankly is a lot of texts as compared topeople one generation older, who at times dint even send one text per day.

Figure 3

According to Figure 3, 26% of the participants agreed to using text language while typing a text,26% also admit to sometimes using text language while 48% of the participants deny using textlanguage while sending a text. Again more than 50% people admitted to using abbreviated form ofthe language which is leading to deterioration of language skills.

According to Figure 4, 30% agree to the fact that texting has negative effects in a student’swriting skills, 10% do not agree that texting is negatively affecting a student’s writing, 35% saythat texting only sometimes affects a student’s writing skills, while 15% cannot give a specificanswer. These views can also be due to personal bias of each generation for or against texting.However, by and large, the older generation feels that texting has adversely affected the writingskills of the students, while the youngsters continue to deny any such allegations.

According to Figure 5, 10% say that their use of text language has affected their academicwriting, 63% deny texting affecting their academic writing, 22% say that it only affects themsometimes and 5% cannot say that it has affected them. It is a scientifically proven fact that allthose people with a strong mind power and analytical skills will not face problems in differentiatingbetween text language and the normal language and the appropriate place of usage for both ofthem. However people whose minds take longer to process things may find it difficult todifferentiate between the two and hence may start using the two interchangeably.

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Figure 4

Figure 5

According to Figure 6, 10% say that they have texted while driving, 85% say that they have notand 5% say that they do it sometimes. Thus even though right now only 10% people admit totexting while driving, the trend is certainly catching up and is becoming one of the major reasonsfor road accidents.

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0

5

10

15

20

25

Yes No Sometimes

Texted while driving

Figure 6

Figure 7

According to Figure 7, 90% say that it is very dangerous to text while driving, 3% believe it is notreally dangerous, 5% say that it might be dangerous while 2% say that they cannot say.

According to Figure 8, 40% say that they can comprehend text language at the first glance, 5%say that they cannot comprehend text language at the first glance and 55% say that they cansometimes comprehend text language at the first glance. This shows that the general reaction ofthe people towards the texting lingo is one of acceptance as more and more people are trying toget the hang of it rather than curbing it.

Texting while driving is Dangerous40

30

20

10

0

StronglyAgree

Agree

NAND

Disagree

37

64 2 1

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Figure 8

5. CONCLUSION

The above research findings only further validate the well-known fact, that texting is on the riseamong Generation Y. The results gathered from the survey conducted clearly reveal that a majorityof people today use text messaging as a significant tool for social communication and send closeto 50 to 70 texts per day. It also shows that the percentage of people using abbreviated textlanguage fall very closely behind the ones who prefer proper punctuated sentences. Many are ofthe opinion that acute texting affects academic writing. Almost everyone agrees on the fact thattexting while driving is dangerous and finally a lot of people do have to read texts carefully tofinally comprehend what the texts are conveying.

It can hence be concluded that this practice is on the rise and a balance needs to be achievedbetween our social lives inside our “phones” and the social world outside.

6. RECOMMENDATIONS

Following are some of the recommendations that we think might help curb the overuse of textingand hence the abuse of an otherwise wonderful and extremely useful means of communication.

1. Set limits. Self-discipline and time management are the key to reduce acute texting. Also,texting while driving must be strictly discouraged. One must limit oneself to send only a few,necessary texts in a day.

2. Exploring the world outside. Whether its organised sports or regular family hikes, physicalactivity has many benefits, including time away from online distractions. Regular exerciseand exposure to sunlight also improve sleep quality. This will not only improve social

Can comprehend text without reading carefully20

10

0

Yes

No

Sometimes

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communication with the physical world but will also the dependency to be glued to the cellphones all the time.

3. Keep the bedroom tech-free. This one’s a no-brainer. The easiest way to prevent technologyfrom interfering with one’s concentration is to keep cell phones away while studying ordoing an academic task.

4. Motivation to use complete sentences. Certain self-evaluation techniques can be used in thisprocess and one can be encouraged from fellow friends to start conversing in completepunctuated sentences.

5. Develop healthy reading habits. One must engage himself/herself into some purposeful readingand learn the art of beautiful, precise and prolific writing.

6.1. Future Scope

According to the present day scenario, text messaging is one of the most widely used means ofcommunication, for both formal as well as informal. From business houses to students, everybodyis using text messages to communicate with one another. This recent spurt in texting thus comesas no surprise and this fad is definitely here to stay.

With telecommunication companies doling out new SMS packs every day, thus increasing thenumber of free texts that can be sent, the craze for texting is not going to come to an end anytimein the foreseeable future. Rather, at present, it is probably one of the most promising developmentsthat have been made in the world of technological communication. We are therefore of the opinionthat even with the passage of time, the vogue of texting will only grow on people, rather thanmitigating.

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https://www.researchgate.net/publication/220495657_Computer-mediated_communication_and_persuasion_Peripheral_vs_central_route_to_opinion_shift?el=1_x_8&enrichId=rgreq-544f5a3a79a0a9c31b314e0029f624e9-XXX&enrichSource=Y292ZXJQYWdlOzI3Mzk5MzEwMDtBUzoyMTM1MDQ2NDE1MDczMjhAMTQyNzkxNDg4MTU4Mg==





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About the Authors

Dr. Surya Rashmi Rawat, MBA (International Business), UGC (NET), LLB, the correspondingauthor is a Professor at Symbiosis Law School, Pune. The professor teaches management subjectsto students of BBALLB and holds a teaching experience of more than 10 years. The professor hasa rich research experience with many research papers published in different indexed and peerreviewed journals. She has also presented her papers in different national and internationalconferences.

All the other authors i.e., Saakshi Sharma, Abhilasha Kanda, Shinjini Lama and AmanSharma are the students of BBALLB in Symbiosis Law School, Pune. All of them have excellentresearch acumen and have published a case study in the journal bearing ISSN.

impact of texting over teen literacy and social communication

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