Illustration of a person sending so many texts that the texts are being sent out of the phone

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Is Txting Ruining Ur Writing?

Misspelled words. No capital letters. Missing punctuation. People with smartphones know that these are common in text messages. But would you write that way in a school essay? 

Many teachers worry that too much texting might cause kids to develop bad writing habits. Some people think using incorrect spelling and grammar in texts is fine for adults but not for kids. After all, kids are still learning how to write well.

Other people argue that kids realize texting has different rules than the writing they do for school. Plus, a study from the Netherlands suggests there’s nothing to worry about. Researchers found that texting regularly doesn’t hurt kids’ writing. In fact, the more shortcuts kids used in texts, the better they performed on grammar tests. 

Here’s what two of our readers think.

When sending texts, kids use shortcuts that prevent them from learning to be skilled writers. We use abbreviations like NP for “no problem” instead of writing out the words.

Smartphones can autocorrect spelling, which takes away the need to memorize how to spell important words. Kids’ phones are doing all the work for them! 

Kids know that texting is a relaxed way of writing that we shouldn’t use on tests or in essays—unless we want a bad grade! I text all the time and still get good grades in English language arts.

Plus, texting can actually improve kids’ writing. The autocorrect tool on phones shows the correct spellings of words, so we know better in the future.

What does your class think?

Is texting ruining your writing?

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