Smartphone Ownership 2013

56% of American adults are now smartphone owners

Our definition of a smartphone owner includes anyone who says “yes” to one—or both—of the following questions: 55% of cell phone owners say that their phone is a smartphone. 58% of cell phone owners say that their phone operates on a smartphone platform common to the U.S. market.1

The perpetual use of mobile devices by adolescents has fueled a culture of text messaging, with abbreviations and grammatical shortcuts, thus raising the following question in the minds of parents and teachers: Does increased use of text messaging engender greater reliance on such ‘textual adaptations’ to the point of altering one’s sense of written grammar?

Results show broad support for a general negative relationship between the use of techspeak in text messages and scores on a grammar assessment, with implications for Social Cognitive Theory and Low-Road/High-Road Theory of Transfer of Learning.

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),

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."

“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.”