Texting And Instant Messaging Case Study

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1. Introduction Texting and Instant Messaging (IMing) Twenty-five years have passed since the first text message, also known as SMS (Short Message System), was sent by Neil Papworth in 1992. The message read “Merry Christmas” and it was sent from a PC. It received no reply because mobile phones of that era had no way of inputting text (Gayomali Chris). The following year, Nokia released the first phone capable of both receiving and sending text messages and, in 1994, Vodafone launched the first service aimed at business people. However, the phenomenon did not take off until the turn of the century, when cross-network texting was made possible by the operators. Since this way of communication allowed messages no longer than 160 characters to…show more content…
One of the most ardent defenders or texting is reputed linguist David Crystal. In his 2008 work, “Txtng The gr8 db8”, he argues that texting is one of the most important changes taking place in language in the recent history (Crystal David). He suggests that textese does not need to pose a threat to standard spelling standards in a language as long as suitable attention is provided to adequate instruction in the classroom. In addition, if an individual is capable of using abbreviations or any other type of elements found in a text message, he or she must already know how to read and write in the standard…show more content…
According to the Oxford Dictionary, literacy is defined as “The ability to read and write.” Traditional literacy will be the focus of this paper due to the fact that in the last decade a new type of literacy has emerged called digital literacy, which will have a greater importance as new generation come of age. These generations are considered digital natives and according to Technopedia (Technopedia.com) they can be described as following: “A digital native is an individual who was born after the widespread adoption of digital technology. The term digital native doesn't refer to a particular generation. Instead, it is a catch-all category for children who have grown up using technology like the Internet, computers and mobile devices. This exposure to technology in the early years is believed to give digital natives a greater familiarity with and understanding of technology than people who were born before it was
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