Will texting make you dumb?

I think Google is making me lazy and ruining my spelling with it's auto correct ...

I've started typing a phrase (with typos and errors) and thought 'it'll be corrected with 'did you mean?' ... and it always is
 
I think Google is making me lazy and ruining my spelling with it's auto correct ...

I've started typing a phrase (with typos and errors) and thought 'it'll be corrected with 'did you mean?' ... and it always is

I have the same problem. But these days, before blundering off, I take the time to read the corrected version with the hope that I'll be able to spell correctly the next time around.
 
The following proves that Spelling is irrelevant:
I cdnuolt blveiee taht I cluod aulaclty uesdnatnrd waht I was rdanieg. The phaonmneal pweor of the hmuan mnid, aoccdrnig to a rscheearch at Cmabrigde Uinervtisy, it deosn’t mttaer in waht oredr the ltteers in a wrod are, the olny iprmoatnt tihng is taht the frist and lsat ltteer be in the rghit pclae. The rset can be a taotl mses and you can sitll raed it wouthit a porbelm. Tihs is bcuseae the huamn mnid deos not raed ervey lteter by istlef, but the wrod as a wlohe. Amzanig huh? yaeh and I awlyas tghuhot slpeling was ipmorantt!
 
The following proves that Spelling is irrelevant:

Climpoe a mesgase unsig that logic. Appleis to very litimed cesas. Pnnmhaeeol rsltues rrleay sfcruae.

(Phenomenal results rarely surface).

If you cannot spell you cannot even try that funky "mix-the-letters" trick to begin with :p

And the first thing people lose track of, is the ability to spell. Most of the tools used to create proper text using limited input devices depend on your ability to actually spell the words to auto-complete through prediction.

Just because SMS messages were a necessary evil, does not mean it's the only way of doing things. Those 160-character messages are one of the most expensive ways of communicating out there.

This article seems overly optimistic.
 
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Nobody bothers to ask why the same technology that can transmit 21MB/s of data through the air is stuck on 160 characters.
Perhaps worldwide corporate greed can be directly blamed for SMS talk.
Luckily under R1000 smartphones are due any day now.
 
Im at school now, and i can assure everyone here that all they do is drill us with english language ***...
fkn adverbial phrases of degree :)

EDIT: Why can sms's only have 160 characters? it makes no sense with the amazing technology we have now.
 
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Not sure texting will make me dump, but it's an efficient use of time while taking a dump.
 
Over the years, I've grown accustomed to the, what I'd like to call, "mxit" language so much so that any sms or other form of communication presented to me I reply with a simple "Learn English and reply, Thanks"

Harsh... yes but we all had those old cellphones and I didn't see a need to shorten my language... it's purely laziness.
 
Misbruik van die Engelse taal? Ek dink dit is nog baie erger onder die Afrikaanse mxiters. Hulle skryf in n soort kode-taal... :sick:
 
"The reality is that SMS language is here to stay, like it or not. As long as there is a need for the SMS, there will be a need for ‘texting’.
The answer lies in teaching children from an early age to use language correctly and in the right context. The solution is education."

Fact: Smartphones are rapidly replacing normal cellphones, even in the entry level segment, and standard SMSs in many countries are gradually falling away in favour of mobile email. In other words, SMS isn't here to stay, it's being phased out, and cellphones with limited keypads are also rapidly being replaced by phones with slide-keyboards and/or touch-screen keyboards, with better text prediction.

That entire article is crap. Kids these days only don't infect their schoolwork with 'cellspeak' because they know it can cause them to fail, but once they're out of school they'll use it where they can when they can, not because they need to but because they are, in fact, too lazy to do otherwise. If you had to ask anyone using cellspeak on a chat client while using a PC, why they're using it, the majority of them will tell you "bcuz its faster".

Typing, in the modern world, is as much a desirable, where not necessary skill, as writing is; most kids well versed in sending SMSes can key in messages on number-pad only phones quicker than many adults could hope to type on a PC, and yet they somehow see typing properly on a computer as some kind of challenge (read: they're too lazy to make a concerted effort to learn how to do so properly), and instead opt for using cellspeak from the get-go. The result? They end up tying quite quickly anyway, but instead of using full, proper words, they will continue to use cellspeak when and where possible "bcuz its faster".

& wen ur typng lik dis it dos mak u luk prty dum tbh bcuz u hav lik a wole kb bt u dnt use al da keys
y?
bcuz its fster lol

It does degrade the English (and other language) capabilities of most kids, whether it reflects directly in their school work or not (tip: kids cram for exams these days - you don't honestly expect them to retain all of what you think you've taught them, do you?). Hell, how many kids could you ask to demonstrate the proper usage of these words?

were
where
we're

For those kids that actually get it right, how often will you find them using 'were' for all three, and when they need to specifically differentiate between them, somehow screw up their usage?


Cellspeak gets flak (that's right Mr. Pieter Streicher, that's how it's spelled) because it's causing a negative impact on overall literacy, almost globally.


tl;dr most of you that prefer cellspeak will have read only this line, and further proven my point. Thanks.
 
EDIT: Why can sms's only have 160 characters? it makes no sense with the amazing technology we have now.
Because SMS's use what is called the service channel. This channel was intended only to enable technicians to communicate with each other while they fixed network problems. It was never designed to be a mass communication channel open to everyone. Overload is also the reason why messages sometime get delayed for days.
 
What is this? 2001? The issue of shorthand writing in SMS has LONG blown over... What irks me is people writing the same way on the web - forums, Facebook, etc... Let's ignore twitter for the moment, due to the character limit. Bur seriously - what justification do people have to write like that on a medium where they aren't limited to a specific amount of characters? To me it feels like a concerted EFFORT to try and write that way. I find it easier just to type out whole words and sentences to express my thoughts...
 
To me it feels like a concerted EFFORT to try and write that way.

Exactly. Each time I see someone typing like this on Facebook or whatever it so obvious that they're spending more time trying to rape vowels to make it look "cool" than actually trying to save time typing.
 
Only slow-typing retards think they're typing faster by leaving out vowels.
 
Only slow-typing retards think they're typing faster by leaving out vowels.
Hu?
When last did you type: Okay, see you later at about eight oh clock - on a normal cheap cell-phone keyboard?
It would take a lot longer than: K CULTR @ 8

I bet that you either have super thumbs or you actually not use SMS' as a primary means of communication.
 
My wife received an official letter from our traffic department last week informing her that she needed to renew her drivers license.
In the letter every single "you" had been written as "u" I actually need to find it so that I can scan it.
To me that is where the line has to be drawn, you get some leet txting kiddies and put them in a real job that requires real communication and they send something like that to a client?
 
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