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“I feel texting is easier because I’m not always at a place where I can talk on the phone,” Shelby said. “My friends and I use some abbreviations like ‘LOL’ (laughing out loud), but just in texts. I’m sure it’s not taking a toll on our academic writing.”

“Just the other day, I asked my students to write four lines of dialogue they had over the weekend,” said Terry Thaxton, a University of Central Florida English professor who runs the summer writing camp Shelby attended earlier this month. “Three of them reached for their phones to read their text messages. They said they couldn’t remember any face-to-face conversations.”

There are those who see the use of so-called "Internet English" as a breakdown of the English language – according to a recent newspaper article, "Some teachers see the creeping abbreviations as part of a continuing assault of technology on formal written English" (Lee, 2002).

Several articles indicate that students who use messaging on a frequent basis often use bad grammar, poor punctuation, and improper abbreviations in academic writing. According to Lee (2002), "teachers say that papers are being written with shortened words, improper capitalization and punctuation, and characters like &, $ and @. " However, something that is not always considered is that these mistakes are often unintentional – when students use IM frequently, they reach a saturation point where they no longer notice the IM lingo because they are so used to seeing it. Montana Hodgen, a 16-year old high school student in Montclair, New Jersey, "was so accustomed to instant-messaging abbreviations that she often read right past them" (Lee, 2002). As she puts it, "I was so used to reading what my friends wrote to me on Instant Messenger that I didn't even realize that there was something wrong," she said. She said her ability to separate formal and informal English declined the more she used instant messages" (Lee, 2002).

This was also a problem for Carl Sharp, whose 15-year old son's summer job application read "i want 2 b a counselor because i love 2 work with kids" (Friess, 2003),

Television and Media Literacy in Young Children: Issues and Effects in Early Childhood Kamaruzaman Jusoff, Nurul Nadiah Sahimi Abstract elevision viewing among young children has been an on going issue as it is found to effect their development in various areas. This problem is getting more worrisome as the percentage and amount of hours of television exposure among young children is increasing, especially with the growing production of children television programs.  Studies have found that television exposure to young children could effects their language and cognitive development, lead to behavior problems, attention disorder, aggression and obesity.

But what's not so good is the informal style and sloppiness of texting and social media that's finding its way into students' assignments.

Some Minnesota teachers have already figured out that they have to tell students to keep texting-speak out of their work.

But Schwab understands how other students slip up. "I don't even know if they realize it when they're writing," she said. "But it's just such a part of their language that they just write it."

TV found to have negative impact on parent-child communication and early literacy compared to books and toys Date: September 15, 2011 Source: Wiley-Blackwell Summary: Since the first television screens lit up our living rooms scientists have been studying its affect on young children. Now scientists have compared mother-child communication while watching TV to reading books or playing with toys to reveal the impact on children's development. The results show that watching TV can lead to less interaction between parents and children, with a detrimental impact on literacy and language skills.

1. Texting reduces the need for in-depth conversations. Have you texted people as a form of avoidance? A few abbreviated words keep people from meaningful dialogue and face-to-face communication. It also diminishes the importance of body language in our communication. 2. Texting dumbs down spelling and grammar. "Txtspk" leads to deficiencies in basic language skills. Shortcuts with spelling, punctuation and emoticons don't help children and teenagers learn the necessary writing and communication skills they need for college and the workforce. Are these convenient shortcuts, acronyms and abbreviations giving way to generations of lazy and sloppy communicators? (Oh, gr8.) 3. Texting distracts us from being fully present. Earlier this year, the industry association that represents wireless communications (CTIA) reported that more than 184 billion text messages are sent each month in the U.S. These messages interrupt our brain function and attention. Texting pulls our focus away from the people and tasks we are experiencing in a moment, which deprives us of being completely present in our lives. 4. Texting invites ambiguity. Joel Willans wrote on Nokia.com: "The format of 160 characters was determined in 1993 by a communications researcher, Friedham Hillebrand. While trying to standardize the technology that would allow cell phones to transmit and display messages, he discovered that the average sentence or question needed just 160 characters." This leaves too many opportunities to mistakenly read between the lines.