Texting and IMing

Both texting and instant messaging have become apart of the lives of many high school students.  Many students partake in these two activities on a daily basis. It allows socialization between one another but it also interferes with school and becomes addicting. I know of many people that send and receive a thousand text messages in one day. This is clearly an issue but it can be controlled.

Instead of paying attention in class, many students tend to text or instant message. Here at Connolly we have access to the internet so students are able to go on AIM during class. I understand that it allows people to communicate and socialize but it does tend to interfere with several things. Instead of sitting down at the dinner table and enjoying a meal, there are people texting. Instead of learning in class and understanding the information being taught, people are texting or instant messaging. This has become such a world wide issue but some people see it as a useful tool. In my opinion, it is far from useful. It is a distraction and can cause someone to become so entranced that they do not respond or hear something important. It has also caused a rise of several slang words such as LOL. These made up words are used on an every day basis and in some instances, have become apart of the English language. Students are now writing essays with these slang words and do not realize that it is not proper English because these new words are so frequently used in texting and instant messaging.

If texting and instant messaging were used for academic purposes I feel as though many issues will arise. Instead of using these tools academically, students will end up abusing this privilege. Students can easily abuse this privilege by going on the internet or texting friends. Even though some people say that if these tools were used during school, they can be monitored, students will always find a way to get around it. Therefore, texting and instant messaging should not be allowed in school. Instead, students should focus on their academics instead of focusing on the easy way out.

Comments

[Erin Sullivan]

KAYLA! I completely agree with everything you are saying in this blog. You state that students do not pay attention in class because of texting and instant messaging. It is interesting that some people believe that texting can better ones vocabulary, because we all know today that many do not use correct grammer because we text so often that it gets boring. I also like that you stated that students are using slang words. Slang words are used throughout so many papers because people do not know the proper english word for them. We believe that small words are big words, but most of us look dumb using them becuase we do not know the meaning of them. I also agree that your texting and instant messaging could creatively be used as a learning tool. I believe some could use texting as a tool, but most of us take advantage of it.