Communication is an important tool in the life of humans. One of the greatest achievements of the human race during evolution was the acquisition of the ability to communicate. Communication has also evolved over the years. The evolution of communication involves both written and spoken speeches. As man evolved the communication, skills also evolved. In spoken speech, man has developed various languages over the years. In written speech, man started with drawings in caves and eventually was able to come up with numerals and letters and created rules to govern the use of these numerals in different languages. These rules ensure that there is uniformity in their use ensuring that communication by users of the same language is achieved.
However, with the improvement in technology the use of the ancient methods of communication is slowly fading away. Instead of writing letters, people can now send emails, which are faster and more convenient. The improvement in technology has also ensured that there is speed in communication between people. The innovation of text messaging services has ensured that one can communicate instantly with the use of written speech. The use of text messages is the most preferred method of communication among the teens. It is not only fast but also secretive. One can communicate with their friends even in presence of their parents without their knowledge. Some of the necessities of texting is that the message should be short and replied fast. Due to these requirements, teens have had to come up with abbreviations and shorthand skills to communicate their messages in short and clear messages. The abbreviations help in encoding messages, increasing the speed of texting and shortening the message. This helps the teens to develop their creativity. One has to be creative enough to code and encode a few letters and numbers to pass the information.
Despite the fact that text messages and instant texting has helped improve the teenagers Creativity, it has also contributed to their demise. Many teens do not know the situations when to use slang and abbreviations and when to use official language. Teens have let the use of these acronyms crawl into their class work. The use of abbreviations like, BTW (by the way) IDK (I don’t know) and other short is being used frequently by students in their school work. The high school teachers claim that they have a hard time understanding some of the writings of the students. In some extreme cases, the students have to be called and explain the meanings of some of the words they have written. Most students with this problem admit that they are used to text messaging and social networking that they unconsciously find themselves using it in class. The fact that Microsoft word does not recognize some of these shortcuts as mistakes makes them easy for students to use them. Some of the mistakes Microsoft word doesn’t recognize include the use of abbreviations like u, 2, 4, g2g, 4got, etc. the students therefore may make these mistakes even in typing their homework and not recognize them.
Text messaging has also affected the grammar use among the students some of the most common in grammatical errors include wrong or no use of punctuation marks, spelling errors and capitalization in the beginning of sentences and when using proper nouns. Most students will not avoid not know where to use commas, exclamation marks, colons, and full stops because they are used to texting without any of them.
Many people may attribute the use if acronyms to laziness of language. Some people claim that the use abbreviations in written speech are because many students are too lazy to write the whole sentence. However, these of some abbreviations show that there is no relationship between the use of these abbreviations and laziness. For example, f one uses ‘coz’ to mean because then one can argue that the person is too lazy to write the whole word. But if a person uses the word ‘letz’ instead of lets then there is a problem because the number of letters in the word are exactly the same. The use of such terms shows that the use of slang is not only a matter of shortening the words but also keeping in touch with the trends.
Some of the other effects of text messaging and social networking on the education of the youths include cheating in exams and lack of concentration in class. Most students in high schools and colleges use phones to cheat in exams. The common methods of cheating include, using Google to get information during exams and texting each other answers to questions. Since most students have mobile phones in school they can easily get information that they have not learnt from the internet and still pass their exams. Some of these students hardly take their education seriously and therefore learn very little during their schooling days. They depend on cheating to help them pass their exams. Due to the influence of the texting and social networking, most of the students will hardly concentrate in class. They engage in texting and use of other social network in class hours and forget the reason they are in school is to study. Most of the vital information passes them and therefore leaves them with less information in their minds. They therefore become less knowledgeable people due to the influence of the technology.
Text messaging as a way of communication is essential in the development of creative minds amongst the youth. The youths have however fallen victims in as far as observation of simple rules is concerned. This is through text messaging when driving. Many of the accidents, which are accounted by the current statistics, attribute to divided attention as the major cause. Text messaging is a convenient mode of communicating and having things done concurrently by the respective parties. This has introduced addition. Addition is however not intelligence. The youths have failed to be smart because they are unable to respond to the safety precautions especially while driving (Lee, Jennifer 12).
According to the latest reports, a third of the individuals who were interviewed said that their attempts to receive text messages subjected them into loss of control before their ended into an accident (Cell Phone Accident Statistics and Texting While Driving Facts 1). Mobile phones are highly peculiar and have a tendency of distracting human attention especially when it is done all of a sudden. Besides the peculiarity of the mobile phones, the kind of text messages received could also lead into accidents. Excitement and fear induced by the received messages in the midst of a fast traffic could divert the vehicle and develop a mind shift hence control of the vehicle.
Poor management of mobile phones especially in text messaging is an clear implication that more accidents will be experienced. These devices have introduced ignorance amongst the majority such that there are no ways in which the situations can be handled to reduce the stalemate. It is thus clear that instead of making some of the youths wise they are making them less smart and as a result this leads into severe situations of accidents.
Generally, many incidences and trends indicate that despite having invested brains and capital in improving technology, many people are unable to come up with effective ways of handling the technology. Additionally, many people, especially the youth are wallowing in the cloud of mesmerizes such that they cannot stick to the common and basic knowledge that could guarantee safety (Lee, Jennifer 12). However, technology has helped greatly in several aspects of our lives. it is good that communication has made life easier for most of the people especially the young people. it is however disturbing that the youth are carried away by these advancements and forget the main reason they are in school is to learn and make something out of their lives. it therefore is the duty of everyone to take an initiative educate the students on the impotence of responsible use of these technological advancements.
Works cited
"Cell Phone Accident Statistics and Texting While Driving Facts."Pennsylvania Personal Injury Lawyers - Pittsburgh Attorneys. N.p., n.d. Web. 2 Dec. 2012.
LEE, JENNIFER 8.. "I Think, Therefore IM - New York Times." The New York Times - Breaking News, World News & Multimedia. N.p., n.d. Web. 2 Dec. 2012.
McGrath, Joseph Edward, and Andrea B. Hollingshead. Groups interacting with technology: ideas, evidence, issues, and an agenda. Thousand Oaks, Calif.: Sage Publications, 2004. Print.
