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Emilee Meadows

ENC 1101

Professor McGriff

10 October 2019

Does Social Media and Texting Do More Harm Than Good?

In America, the average college student spends approximately 94.6 minutes texting each day. But is

this a bad thing or has it been blown out of proportion? We as people have indeed become consumed by

the little device that sits in our back pockets. Even before cellphones were a thing, people were arguing

over new technologies and if they were good or bad. Anything new that has come along since the

beginning of the Age of Technology has had some form of controversy behind it. As David Crystal,

author of “2b or Not 2b”, puts it, “Ever since the arrival of printing… people have been arguing that new

technology would have disastrous consequences for language” (899). It’s no surprise that people have

reacted the way they have over cellphones because this is completely different than past inventions. But is

it all that different? People believe that texting and social media use is diminishing student’s writing and

communication skills, but I believe that student’s skills are being enhanced because it has become easier

to communicate, has caused a growth in people’s English language usage, and increased our use of

vocabulary and intercommunication.

Texting has made communicating easier and faster than ever, but many people argue that this isn’t

necessarily a good thing. Most of the time, we just use our phones, tablets, or computers to communicate.

Students now use computers to write any papers for class or to do their homework. We no longer have to

go to a library to do research, we can just use the World Wide Web or Google. Because of this, physical

writing is starting to disappear. Without the use of physical writing, Students writing skills are
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diminishing. Many people believe that texting is the main cause of this because when we text, we don’t

use formal writing skills. Most of the time words won’t be spelled correctly and sentences won’t make

sense. We no longer need to use formal writing in our everyday writing. In her article “OMG: Social

Media May Wreck Your Kid’s Writing”, author Ruth Campbell states, “The bottom line, though, is over

time people lose writing skills” (1). But is this the case? I disagree with Campbell’s claim that people are

losing their writing skills because, as recent research has shown, people’s writing skills are in fact,

increasing. David Crystal claims, “[Texting] there is increasing evidence that it helps rather than hinders

literacy” (901). I agree that texting helps with the upkeep of writing skills because of my experience as a

student confirms it. Because we are writing every day, our writing skills are increasing because we now

use them more than ever. Before texting came along, the only equivalent was writing a letter. This took

much more time to get to people and it took them time to respond. Now with the help of technology, you

can send that letter and it will be received instantaneously. We can now practice our writing skills daily.

Many people argue if texting has brought an increase or decrease in the usage of the English language.

Because of texting, there is a new informal language known as “textese.” This new language is full of

abbreviations and improper word usage. It includes “words” like LOL, TBH, BTW, etc. As Ruth

Campbell puts it, “Students are more likely to commit certain grammatical errors because they use the

conventions of texting… in their formal academic essays” (1). Through texting, students get used to

writing without punctuation, capitalization, and they use many abbreviations. This along with the “texting

language” is crossing over into formal writing. Although I agree with Campbell up to a point, I cannot

accept the assumption that texting is the only reason behind these errors. Even before texting, people

made plenty of mistakes in their writing, including capitalization and punctuation mistakes. This is not

exclusive to the texting generation. In his article “Is Texting Killing the English Language?”, author John

McWhorter states, “The first writing was based on the way people talk, with short sentences” (1). That is

essentially what all writing is, talking on paper. Yes, texting has brought about a new informal language,

but it is still a new language that was created just like how writing was created. As McWhorter puts it,
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“talking came first, writing is just an artifact that came along later” (1). Texting was created through

writing, just like writing was created through speech.

Finally, people argue there has been a decrease in intercommunication and vocabulary skills. Because

of texting and social media, people have stopped meeting in person. This is especially true for teenagers.

Steven Pinker states in his article “Mind over Mass Media”, “… conjugating Latin doesn’t make you

logical, brain-training games don’t make you smarter.” Pinker is using this statement as an example that

some things may seem to be correlating together, but they have nothing to do with one another. Because

of texting and social media, intercommunication is higher than ever. It has become easier to communicate

with others. It may not be in the same way as meeting in person, but it is still communication. McWhorter

writes, “… Texting – quick, casual and only intended to be read once – is actually talking with your

fingers” (2). Texting and social media have created a whole new means of communication, in a way, it’s

created a new universal language. In the United States alone, an average of 243.6 million people were on

social media in 2018. Over 205 million text messages were sent on Christmas day in 2006. These people

are all connected in a new and exquisite way that people in the early 20th century could only dream of.

We not only have access to people all over the world, but we have access to more information than was

thought possible. People argue that the internet diminishes our vocabulary; in contrast, I believe it

increases it because we have so many resources now. Steven Pinker himself writes “The Internet and

information technologies are helping us to manage, search and retrieve our collective intellectual output

on different scales, from Twitter and previews to e-books and online encyclopedia” (1031). An example

of Pinker’s quote is dictionary.com. Using dictionary.com, I can take a simple word and find a more

complex word to spice up my writing. We have easier access to so much information that will help

students save time on their schoolwork. Instead of sitting in the library searching for hours to find one

piece of information, we can find that information with the click of a button. This helps students do more

work effectively.
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Though I do agree sometimes social media and texting does come with consequences, I still insist

that this phenomenon is something that connects people all over the world. We have access to so much

information and resources than ever before. We can connect with people from different cultures, places,

and so much more. We have created a universal language that has connected the entire world. People are

being able to grow their knowledge. As Pinker puts it “Far from making us stupid, these technologies are

the only things that will keep us smart” (1031). These technologies give us access to learning tools that

help us to grow in so many ways. People who never went to college can go online so that they still have

time for their families. This is only the beginning. So many more amazing technologies are still being

created and they have the potential to alter the world just like texting and social media has. They may

bring about a whole new era and bring so much more to the table. Are you ready?
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Works Cited

Campbell, Ruth. “OMG: Social Media May Wreck Your Kid’s Writing.” Are Social Networking Sites

Harmful? 1 January 2015, 1. Gale In Context: Opposing Viewpoints, URL: https://go-gale-

com.db23.linccweb.org/ps/retrieve.do?tabID=Viewpoints&resultListType=RESULT_LIST&sear

chResultsType=MultiTab&searchType=BasicSearchForm&currentPosition=1&docId=GALE%7

CEJ3010744226&docType=Viewpoint+essay&sort=Relevance&contentSegment=ZXAY-

MOD1&prodId=OVIC&contentSet=GALE%7CEJ3010744226&searchId=R1&userGroupName

=lincclin_sjrcc&inPS=true. Accessed 25 October 2019.

Crystal, David. “2b or Not 2b?” Everyone’s an Author: With Readings, edited by Marylin Moller, W.W.

Norton & Company, 2017, 899 – 907.

McWhorter, John. “Is Texting Killing the English Language?” Time.com, 25 April 2013,

ideas.time.com/2013/04/25/is-texting-killing-the-english-language/print/. Accessed 23 October

2019.

Pinker, Steven. “Mind Over Mass Media.” Everyone’s an Author: With Readings, edited by Marilyn

Moller, W.W. Norton & Company, 2017, 129 – 132.