The Text Effect: Social media’s effect of writing

Texting and social media are arguably the biggest current influences on writing. English teacher Ann-Marie Voegtlin says the new way of socializing is “rushed” and “lacks intimacy.”

“Social media and texting in particular encourage an informal, ‘abbreviated’ style of written communication, not only in today’s youth, but [among] adults as well,” Voegtlin said. “Perhaps more importantly, communicating through texting and other ‘social’ media may actually decrease the quality of our communication with one another.”

Voegtlin has noticed that the writings of her students have changed as social media use has increased.

“I have definitely noticed the use of abbreviated, “text,” spelling in my students’ writing, especially in ELD,” Voegtlin said. Her English Language Development students are more likely to write phrases that they see and text, such as ‘smthng’ or ‘smbdy’ rather than learn to spell the word correctly.

Sophomore Tyler Williams agrees that the overuse of abbreviations within text messages and on social media, as well as the early ages which students begin to use them will cause people’s “text language” and “academic language” to merge.

“I’d say [social media] most definitely has a negative impact,” Williams said. “Since we are creatures of habit and we use the abbreviations so often, it transfers over to our writing.”

In addition, Williams admits that social media can be distracting as a student that he is often distracted by scoial media when he is trying to work on an assignment.

“Facebook has entertaining statuses and, colorful pictures and other stuff,” Williams said. “I do not go on for fun anymore. It just happens.”

In truth, Voegtlin does not think that social media can have a positive effect on a student’s writing, and for that reason, does not use it herself. But, Williams believes that a person can benefit from misspelling words while texting or typing if the phone automatically corrects the mistake. Williams also pointed out, most students do not tend to focus on their grammar when texting or messaging.

“The majority of people who text do not focus on complex vocabulary while commenting on statuses,” Williams said. “[Texting] is not the absolute best influence [on writing].”