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Some traditionalists warn that digital reading is the intellectual equivalent of empty calories. Often, they argue, writers on the Internet employ a cryptic argot that vexes teachers and parents. Zigzagging through a cornucopia of words, pictures, video and sounds, they say, distracts more than strengthens readers. And many youths spend most of their time on the Internet playing games or sending instant messages, activities that involve minimal reading at best.

Last fall the National Endowment for the Arts issued a sobering report linking flat or declining national reading test scores among teenagers with the slump in the proportion of adolescents who said they read for fun.

Texting and social networking sites don’t require careful reading or editing. Those are skills expected of literate individuals. They also don’t require writing in complete sentences. Twitter, for example, only allows 140 characters. Consequently, many students write in fragments and run-ons. This also has an effect on word choice. Typically, students use slang and abbreviations. Consequently, many students start using slang in formal writing because it’s part of their everyday writing and speech. There also is a negative effect on punctuation, especially when texting. It ignores language and writing conventions. Many students have no idea when to use capital letters. They don’t capitalize ‘I.’ They don’t capitalize proper names. You’re/your, there/their/they’re, and its/it’s become interchangeable. Punctuation is haphazard. Also, texting and social networking sites don’t require practicing handwriting; therefore, many students can’t write legibly. Every year, I am amazed by how few of my eighth-graders are able to read or write cursive. They struggle with their own signature.