Michaela Cullington "Texting and Writing"

In Michaela Cullington's Texting and Writing, she discusses her view, as well as other scholars, of texting. Texting is something most of today's teenagers do on a regular basis. Cullington says that texting has a minimal effect on student-writing, whereas Ream, Walsh, and Carey find that texting is the most horrible and damaging thing on student-writing. To Ream, the use of acronyms and shorthand in text messaging is the cause for students' inability to spell and write. She also finds that texting nullifies the ability to convey emotion in their writing because they are used to using "sideways smiley faces." Walsh drops points from her students' papers for using text slang and abbreviations in writing. Carey says that text language has become "second nature" to students. As a "texter" myself, I find myself agreeing more with Cullington because she says, "They recognize the difference between texting friends and writing formally and know what is appropriate in each situation." Most High school students can see the difference between texting their friends and writing a formal paper for a grade in school. What I found most important is that in this article, some students were interviewed and admitted to using abbreviations like gtg for "got to go" and hbu for "how about you"; yet they still believe they are not acceptable for formal writing. I myself rarely use abbreviations, so that I continue to write in a formal manner. This leads me to my next point. There are students that text and don't use abbreviations. I find myself texting more formally because I choose not to use abbreviations and shorthand so that my messages can be longer and worded out so there is no confusion in the message that I send. Even though I disagree with some of the passage and agree with the rest, I can honestly say that this argument is a very strong and is interesting to people like myself who want to learn more about the thought of, "Can texting actually nullify my literacy skills?" This article is written well for the audience it is meant for, as well as readers outside of the audience it is meant for.
Word Count: 364