Texting : the new form of communication ; actually, the new form of everything

Abstract

Instant messaging and text messaging have become vastly popular in recent years as a way for members of the younger generation to communicate with each other while avoiding actually opening their mouths. There has been much debate recently about the pros, cons, and everything in between for this subject. It has even sparked national attention in the form of articles published by two major media outlets. r u online?: The Evolving Lexicon of Wired Teens by Kris Axtman published in The Christian Science Monitor (and reprinted in Gary Goshgarian's Exploring Language) and "Text Generation Gap: U R 2 Old (JK)" by Laura Holson published in The New York Times show the phenomenon of texting from two different viewpoints. While The Christian Science Monitor looks at texting from a teacher's point of view and The New York Times attempts to grasp the parent's point of view, both bring important information to light about the growing fad of Generation IM (instant messaging), but neither of these articles address the view of the generation they are scrutinizing in depth. The teenager's perspective is the most crucial component in this debate and without it a drastic misunderstanding of texting results.