By Carol Church, Writer, Family Album
Reviewed by Kate Fogarty, PhD, Department of Family, Youth, and Community Sciences, University of Florida, and Suzanna Smith, PhD, Department of Family, Youth, and Community Sciences, University of Florida
As someone who took a while to get in the habit of texting, I have to admit that I generally tend to spell out my words the long way when messaging. (I also have autocorrect turned off!)
However, many tweens and teens tend to use a fair bit of so-called “textspeak,” sprinkling their messages with abbreviations ranging from the well-known “LOL” (laughing out loud) to a few that might mystify moms and dads, like PAW (“parents are watching”) or SMH (“shaking my head”). Some teachers and parents have been inclined to wonder if the habit might actually be damaging students’ ability to read and write conventionally. After all, the average teen texter sends 50 to 60 messages per day, with that number rising all the time.
But what does the research have to say on this matter? A 2012 study looked at the reading abilities of over 1000 tweens and teens between the ages of 10 and 18 to see whether young people who texted a lot had weaker verbal skills. Youth were asked if they had access to a cell phone, and if so, how much they used it for texting.
Three-quarters of those surveyed did own or have access to a cell phone, and of those, almost 40% were texters. These texters sent an average of 34 messages per day. But despite what we might expect, those who sent more text messages scored slightly better on tests of word decoding and reading comprehension. This held true even when taking factors like income, parents’ education, and mothers’ reading ability into account.
In fact, researchers believe it’s even possible that young people who choose to text a lot may be a bit more verbally competent than those who prefer to voice call instead. However, it’s important to point out that all in all, the effects found seemed to be pretty minor.
Other similar studies have also failed to find a connection between texting or “textspeak” and literacy problems. If you think of textspeak not as a degeneration of the language, but rather as a “language” of its own, this begins to make sense. While there are other reasons to limit kids’ cell phone use (like excess time with devices, not to mention the phone bill!), it seems that we may not need to worry that teen and tween reading skills will decline due to lots of texting.
(Photo credit: Tween cell phone texting by Carissa Rogers. CC BY 2.0. Cropped.)
References:
Hofferth, S.L., & Moon, U. J. (2012). Cell phone use and child and adolescent reading proficiency. Psychology of Popular Media Culture (1)2, 108-122. http://dx.doi.org/10.1037/a0027880
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