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Nowadays, thanks to the advancement in technology, almost everyone is indulging in the frequent use of mobile phones and socialising through social media. And this has led to increased instances of texting and messaging. But, unfortunately, it is observed that text messaging is affecting the literacy of many people these days, particularly youngsters.
While texting, people use different short forms of words, instead of writing the full spelling of the words or complete sentences. For instance, they write ‘good night’ as ‘gud nit’, ‘between’ as ‘B/W’, ‘see you’ as ‘cu’, and so on. There are many other such examples that eventually lead teenagers to have poor vocabulary and weak spellings.
Most teachers complain about students who use the short form of a word instead of writing the full form in their school work. Parents are worried too about this problem because it greatly affects students’ grammar and spellings. It might sound like a small problem but, if we notice, it’s a matter of great concern.
The use of electronic gadgets is increasing day by day, even a baby of one or two years is holding a mobile phone while eating their food. As for the youth and elders, chatting with friends on electronic gadgets is as important as breathing to them. Most youngsters are so gadget-addicted that they have little time to give to studies, and when they do, they find it hard to pay attention to their studies and stay focused. Even while studying, they hold their mobile phones in their hands and are texting, which distracts their attention from the task at hand.
Overcoming this problem is not easy, but is it hard too. It cannot be eliminated completely but it can be overcome by taking several measures. Parents should keep a check on their children to make sure they do not use their mobile phone while studying.
Dictation is another measure. Parents and teachers should take dictation from students. In addition, campaigns should be arranged for students to make them aware that using mobile phones and texting all the time is a waste of time and unhealthy too, which affects their literacy level as well. While this problem cannot be completely resolved, it can be tackled to prevent its adverse effects.
Published in Dawn, Young World, October 27th, 2018
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