Letter to the editor

This post responds to the "Twtr? It's majorly bad" article

Dear Editor,

I would like to respond to an interesting article posted on the 24 March 2014. First of all, I completely understand what your ideas are based upon, however, a few given arguments seemed very biased and inconsiderate of the positives “text speak” might offer. For one, everyone I write with regularly over social media or infrequently over email, I communicate and write casually, yet the person I communicate with and myself have barely ever used “text speak” like described in the article. The few times we have used it was to mock or essentially “make fun” of people who use it regularly. Casual in this context also means I write like I speak. I don’t use very sophisticated or any complicated language with my friends. I for myself will say “Innit”, but I would not ever think of using it in my academic writing. 

Along with this, I personally believe it’s not the actual texting which leads to problems in grammar and spelling. I believe it is the amount of time a student, especially a young developing student, is exposed to such language is a key factor which influences the way students write out- and inside of school. This leads back to the parents’ responsibility of specific allowance times for internet devices. If parents cut back the time their children are allowed to be on social media, the exposure to such “text speak” is reduced, hence reducing the adapting of “abbreviations and colloquialisms”. 

The teacher also makes a wild assumption that the next generations or the generations to come will not be able to have “correct use of grammar and spelling”. There is no statistical evidence behind this statement. After talking with a few English teachers I have had throughout the years, they all tend to disagree with that statement. Most of them said that “text speak” is a very momentary and brief period of English, which will most likely be forgotten or “eradicated” over the next few decades. 

Now I question you fellow readers, do you, or do you not agree with this head teacher and why? How often do you use “text speak” and does it influence your life as much as the article discusses?