Is technology affecting teen grammar?

[j122eff]

If you have any comments or opinions on this issue, please discuss. I need some feedback for a fieldwork project.

 

[Alan Holpinburgfurt]

no! maybe they need to pay attention in class and talk right there and let them do their own thing on theyre own time.

 

[hooliganteenager]

hey guys first post here

Of course not. If anything it's helping us better understand the language that surrounds us. It is our parents and our environment and an insane amounts of tiny imperfections in society that shapes us and our ability to use our language properly.

 

[Evil Anagram]

I'm going to go ahead and disagree. When you write a lot, you fall into certain habits with regards to grammar. The fact that so many teens today interact using a textual interface is definitely going to affect how they use grammar on a day-to-day basis. Whether this effect is ultimately positive or negative or whether it carries over into formal papers is up for debate, though I'm sure we all know someone whose grammar and spelling are absolutely horrendous.

 

[Tdol]

The question assumes a homogeneity that I think overgeneralises- there are genuine concerns about some young people who seem to have difficulties writing connected text, etc, and technology may well be a factor, but it's not universal, which suggests that technology alone may not be enough of an explanation.

 

[Barb_D]

My daughter can text with faster thumbs than I can type on a keyboard. Almost.

Last night I read a two-page essay she wrote for class. It was perfect. (Except for one spelling mistake.)

The smart ones understand that different media and different audiences allow (or even demand) different styles.

 

[cjw4ua]

As a 4th grade teacher, I have seen a drastic drop in spelling and grammar skills during the last 5 years. Kids don't know the correct spellings of words because of texting and spellcheck. They struggle with writing complete sentences and paragraphs with correct punctuation. We have immersed our kids in technology (which is not always a bad thing), but we have also hindered them in being adequate users of the English language.

 

[ghulamawais]

yeah is affecting our teen grammar very severely

 

[Tdol]

As a 4th grade teacher, I have seen a drastic drop in spelling and grammar skills during the last 5 years. Kids don't know the correct spellings of words because of texting and spellcheck. They struggle with writing complete sentences and paragraphs with correct punctuation. We have immersed our kids in technology (which is not always a bad thing), but we have also hindered them in being adequate users of the English language.

Is this drop a) universal and b) attributable to technology itself rather than a combination of factors? That is my worry with the finger being pointed at technology; I am not saying that it is blameless, but I think that the problem may have more complex roots than simply the availability of technology.

Spelllchecks may have a powerful influence on people's ability to spell, but I remember the arguments against calculators when I was a child and they appeared- I must confess that I would struggle to remember how to do something like long division now as I have used calculators so much, but I am not sure how much I have lost by being less able to do such calculations. The inability to write coherent text strikes me as a much mire serious problem than spelling.