Texting is Not the Death of Writing

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Imagine for a second your life without texting – I bet it’s quite scary to even think of that! Texting, even though being quite recent, has already become a very natural habit in our lives. I believe the advantages it has on our daily communication are pretty evident and don’t require enumeration. Yet, there are quite a few people who are afraid that texting has negative impact on the way we use language. They claim that texting is the death of writing since we tend not to follow the usual grammar rules while, for example, chatting on Facebook. It might come as a surprise but it looks like these people are not quite right.

In this short but effective video John McWhorter, a linguist and political commentator, explains why texting should not be considered a threat to our (good) writing skills. He argues that, in fact, texting is not even writing and it should be rather understood as “fingered speech” with a grammar of its own.

What are your thoughts on this issue?

By Julija Televičiūtė

Graduate from Vilnius University, English Philology (BA)

Translation trainee at Lithuanian Unit