Is texting / e-mail good for literacy?

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It just strikes me that ten years ago there was much less incentive to be literate - in as much as you could pretty much bounce along in life post leaving school without being able to read all that well. However now with text messages being ubiquitous amongst teenagers, and the still rather text heavy internet being big part of teenagers lives there is much more of an incentive. The by product is that it is cool to read.

So shouldn't literacy figures be going up?

― Pete (Pete), Monday, 13 January 2003 13:44 (twenty-two years ago)

They are, aren't they?

― N. (nickdastoor), Monday, 13 January 2003 13:48 (twenty-two years ago)

I tink mye speelings gr8.

― baggy (baggy), Monday, 13 January 2003 14:03 (twenty-two years ago)

Literacy figures are on the up ( http://www.literacytrust.org.uk/database/stats/keystatistics.html )
But I doubt that it's due to texting alone. Far more influential I would imagine, is popularity of Harry Potter/Northern Lights. I would expect the adult literacy rates to rocket in a few years time as almost every kid under twelve that I know has read and loved at least one of these books.

― Simeon (Simeon), Monday, 13 January 2003 14:18 (twenty-two years ago)

There may be more people reading, but there is less attention being paid to spelling and grammar. When one sends an e-mail, it is generally done in a hurry, quite often without spell checking and under the understanding that it will probably be deleted soon after unlike a written letter which is "filed". Somehow, this makes the spelling and grammar one uses in emails less important than in written letters. As for text messages, who uses complete words, let alone whole sentences, in those? Speed and brevity are key. What will be interesting is whether the casualness with which spelling and grammar are treated in the new forms of communication spill over into the more traditional ones. In my view, it is still too early to tell.

― MarkH (MarkH), Monday, 13 January 2003 14:22 (twenty-two years ago)

I think texting is really interesting with regards to both the fluiding of language and also the lateral choices made for some of the shortenings. It often (but not always) emphasizes pronunciation over the literal readings.

Boosters of spelling and grammar talk about correctness and clarity of meaning and it strikes me that the hybridisations prefered adds brevity to the mix (which would cheer up the campaign for plain English).

― Pete (Pete), Monday, 13 January 2003 14:26 (twenty-two years ago)

I tink mye speelings gr8.

Im thee on whi shoulds be makinf that pot.

― brg30 (brg30), Monday, 13 January 2003 16:42 (twenty-two years ago)

I always try and use complete words when texting, and I use punctuation too. Predictive text can throw a good wobbler occasionally though.

― chris (chris), Monday, 13 January 2003 16:44 (twenty-two years ago)

For how long will the internet remain a text-heavy space? When evryone gets madly fast connections, won't it just be some crazy form of TV / videophone?

― Eyeball Kicks (Eyeball Kicks), Monday, 13 January 2003 16:52 (twenty-two years ago)

Not the amateur web - I can't see why it would.

― N. (nickdastoor), Monday, 13 January 2003 17:11 (twenty-two years ago)

When evryone gets madly fast connections

For 'when', read 'if'. I think you are in a minority Chris; most 'ppl' I know use 'abbrevs' when texting.

― MarkH (MarkH), Tuesday, 14 January 2003 00:01 (twenty-two years ago)

which teachors r sayn makes speln worse

― Mr Noodles (Mr Noodles), Tuesday, 14 January 2003 00:02 (twenty-two years ago)

I don't abbrev. at all unless I actually can't fit it all in or it's something I would say in reality with my mouth.

― RJG (RJG), Tuesday, 14 January 2003 00:05 (twenty-two years ago)

I find myself using ilx abbreviations orally now, like 'rub'. Fortunately, the person I said it to understood.

― MarkH (MarkH), Tuesday, 14 January 2003 00:11 (twenty-two years ago)

Rub is genuine (if archaic) teen speak, so it is allowed.

― N. (nickdastoor), Tuesday, 14 January 2003 01:06 (twenty-two years ago)

"For how long will the internet remain a text-heavy space? When evryone gets madly fast connections, won't it just be some crazy form of TV / videophone?"

Not the amateur web - I can't see why it would.

But the amateur web - and I'm not sure what that is - will surely be a minority sport. I took the thread to be about the way that, because of texting and internet, the acts of reading and writing for the first time ever have become mainstream pursuits among young people. So yes, there will remain some people who read and write. But what'll happen to the majority of AOLers etc (presuming it's a 'when' rather than an 'if'?

― Eyeball Kicks (Eyeball Kicks), Tuesday, 14 January 2003 01:47 (twenty-two years ago)

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