YOUTH: Is Texting Ruining The Way We Speak? (From News Shopper)

YOUTH: Is Texting Ruining The Way We Speak?

7:58pm Monday 19th April 2010 in Beckenham By Julia Margetts - community correspondent

‘So, whats happening today?’ ask your parents.

‘I don’t know, Im just waiting for a text’ you reply.

‘Why don’t you just RING them?!’ they demand to know.

There are a number of reasons not to ring somebody- you don’t have any credit, you have unlimited texts to use, you don’t like speaking on the phone. Any of these reasons are perfectly justifiable, but are they being influenced in any way?

For example, if it wasn’t for the likes of texting, Facebook or MSN, would teenagers ring each other more frequently? Would they speak in a different way than many do at the moment?

In a report by the BBC, exam markers brought up this issue after a 13 year old girl handed in a essay written entirely in ‘text speak.’ This brought the topic into the media limelight for a while, and many people had many different views on it.

So what do you think? Is texting, MSN or Facebook ruining the way we speak, changing our language? Or is it just a quicker, easier way to communicate?