Why can't kids write these days?

Of course, texting is the reason so many people abbreviate their messages on venues like this. If they use standard text abbrevations here, I have no problem with that. Most readers can easily work through the standard stuff.

However, there is a small minority of bad writers who work extra hard to shorten every word without understanding the original sounds and spellings of words. This "uneducated text talk" makes them look even more uneducated than they are. Unfortunately, they are not smart enough to figure out how dumb they sound. These are the ones I don't read. (u_m33)

Those of you who are down on teachers because of text talk don't know what you're talking about. Teachers don't allow this stuff in their classrooms and grade down for it. I know that some of you will say that your teachers allow it. Well, they are that 5% of the teaching profession who should seek employment elsewhere since they are not encouraging proper spelling and grammar. Every profession has its bad apples-- teaching included.

For those of you who use text language, just remember that you need to write to your audience. Those college letters need to be pristine examples of the English language, or you'll find youself being turned down by college after college. That note to Grandma needs to be standard English also unless Grandma is a texter herself.

I know exactly how you feel. I am not exactly what you would call old i was born in 86 and i didn't have any idea who that Justin Beiber was either. I am sick of seeing illiterate kids especially on here. They say stupid incoherent words and sentences that you can't answer until you figure out what their question was in the first place. Another thing that gets me they call everyone either bro or sis, when they aren't even related what is the deal with that. I will admit if i am in a rush i will type ur instead of you're or u instead of you, but nothing like what you see these days. Trust me i very much get where your coming from. I'm also curious as to why all teenagers go through the "emo" faze. Why do they have to dress in all black and have their makeup so thick and black they look like Panda's? and what the hell does emo mean anyway?.

I'm glad someone else noticed the illiteracy on this site. Teenagers today do not learn because the schools don't care. They herd them through like cattle. There is something called" Social Promotion" where they can graduate with a "D"Average. Rediculous. I am 56 years old. When i went to school in the "50's and 60's" you repeated a grade if you had less than passing grades. My teenagers are 18, my daughter 20, and they are functionally illiterate. But they still graduated. Now they can't even fill out a proper job application. They can't spell!

Ahahahahahahahaha! Oh my god i didnt know adults were this clueless about teenagers. We do it because it's faster than typing or keying in the whole word. i'm 13 and no one spells like that when they're writing. If they did they'd fail their english exams and not everyone wants to fail. I hate the way all teenagers are stereotyped as "lazy." I'd like to clear something up, we're not! and it's not very encouraging when everyone thinks you're going to fail anyway even if you try. So we can read! We can write! And we can spell! Shame there's barely any good english teachers. Barely anyone in my year got A's or B's (just so you know the Irish system of grading is different to the American way) because its all filled with questions like "What are your feelings on this poem?" and "Write an essay on what freedom means to you?" None of us see that as any use to us in the future. I don't even see that as any use even though i did well in the exam.

And also english classes arent teaching anything different, its kids' willingness to learn. I'm sorry but 18 years of school isnt an attractive package and you learn spelling in primary school. Who learns how to spell in college?

I'm sorry, but I completely disagree with you. Most of my friends write and spell perfectly, and so do I. I am thirteen years old and maybe some adolescents with low IQs don't care about proper writing, but you can't assume that all pre-teens and teenagers are like that. And I don't believe that text messaging is ruining the English language. When you're texting, you try to abbreviate and shorten your words so that you can type faster and the other person can read your message sooner.

Sincerely,

CitrusPrincess514

The reason for the missing vowels is texting.

Also, using the computer for spelling and grammar check does eliminate the need to know some of the rules. Their spelling and grammar will get better once they realize that it has to in order to pass or excel in their job. If it doesn't, then they'll have problems in life or find an alternate path.

I completely agree with you about the text messaging.

I am 18 and it irritates the heck out of me when my friends leave out vowels and TyPe LiKe ThIs... Text Messaging is impairing my generation's ability to carry on a verbal conversation...

My peers claim that their texting grammar does not reflect their actual writing, but in all actuality it really does...

Well the only reason I talk like that because it's like another language that teenagers came up with. English isn't my first language so I find it easier sometimes to type like that on chat websites. I also believe that the English language is wounded by this new way of talking.

It's making the language more efficient.

Thanks to text-messaging, we'll be typing less and sending more meaning across. This is good.

Also- kids can't "write" as well thesedays because they're typing instead. This is also good because people can type at 70 words per minute, and hand-write only at about 20. Much more efficient.

I agree 100%. I don't know if it's ignorance, laziness, teaching or just trying to be cool. Your text messaging theory may be right on because they have to squish everything onto the tiny screen, and they apparently don't have the ability to change their mindset when a different medium is available.