Argumentative Essay About Texting

Words: 755
Pages: 4

Texting is sending a short series of messages to a someone via a cell phone or other hand held device. In the early days, cell phones had little keypads and character limits. To compensate for this, a text “language” was created to speed up texting and allow more content. Overtime, texting has evolved from sending a few simple “LOL’s” and “BRB’s” to being able to hold hours and hours of conversations using pictures, GIF’s and of course, words. Many still use the texting shorthand to communicate even though the texting process has become easier and more advanced. Although texting is a major form of communication and may seem to have no negative consequences, one must ask, how does it affect writing and the professional world? In Michaela Cullington’s Article “Does Texting Affect Writing?” she discusses the numerous concerns from the scientific and English community about “textspeak”. She concludes that no evidence of textspeak affecting students writing and English skills. Cullington effectively appeals to the reader’s ethos and logos to convince the reader to forgo their …show more content…
For example, she quotes supportive material from Illinois linguistics and English professor Dennis Baron’s book A Better Pencil: Readers, Writers, and the Digital Revolution. Baron presumably has years of experience in his field and as an English professor, he sees college student’s writing often. She also mentions Robert Sternberg, an American psychologist and psychometrician, and Kaplan, an online education program, arguing that texting encourages teens to write and is just a new way for the younger generation to express their thoughts and ideas. By using credible sources the audience is more likely to believe the information presented to them and accept the writers point of