In Bad Ideas About Writing, there is an article by Christopher Justice titled Texting Ruins Literacy Skills which highlights the cons that texting has on the youth when it comes to applying themselves in a formal setting, like the classroom. According to Justice, he believes there is a significant difference between text and speech. He hates how students fail to separate the two in an educational/formal environment as it makes them come off as ignorant (Justice, 308). Furthermore, he feels like using technology in the classroom is a bad idea as it tends to incite bad recreational habits when it comes to communicating. However, as technology advances and becomes more widespread, texting should just be embraced as another form of communication because it is not going anywhere anytime soon.

     One of Justice’s central claims in his essay is that ‘text’ and ‘speech’ are different. Justice defines texting as the communicative practice of sending brief messages via technology (Justice, 308). He explains how texting also allows the sender to “grammatically pollute sentences,” and it is acceptable, whereas doing the same in day-to-day dialogue (speech) simply isn’t. However, linguist John McWhorter disagrees. McWhorter goes on to make the valid point that if speech is an ongoing innovation based upon humans “talking like they write,” then there should also be a form of communication where we “write like we talk” (McWhorter 3:10-3:21). By this, McWhorter is saying if speech is us writing how we’re supposed to talk, grammatically, then texting should be an escape for us to write like we speak with no grammatic infrastructure. Furthermore, different parts of the world maintain different dialects; therefore, when it comes to communicating via text, it may allow us to connect better with some people better as opposed to others.

     Despite ultimately claiming texting was an ineffective way to communicate, Christopher Justice did manage to point out one of the most significant benefits of texting: marketing. The marketing scene is one of the main reasons texting will not be going anywhere any time soon. With technology constantly being used at an all-time high, the world revolves around apps and social media (Justice, 311). For apps to appeal to a younger audience, they must remain ‘hip,’ and they do this through the usage of text to connect with their target audiences.

     Although Justice believes that texting is destroying the literary skills of the youth he also understands that it’s a new period of time from which he was brought up in. With Justice and McWhorter’s fondness of texting aside from speech, why is it not referred to as another form of communication? To Justice’s credit, there is a time texting and speech should be separated. However, although it is imperative that ‘speech’ and ‘text’ are differentiated amongst, they both contribute to literature in their own respective ways. Texting should not be referred to as a ‘bad idea’ but rather a new form of communication. If society continuously fails to adapt to the changes in its environment, then it’ll reach a stagnant point. The moment society peaks due to the stubbornness of innovation is the beginning of a harsh end.

Works Cited

“John McWhorter: A Surprising New Language — Texting.” Performance by John McWhorter, YouTube, YouTube, 26 June 2012,        https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yoF2vdLxsVQ. Accessed 16 Nov. 2021.

Justice, Christopher. “Texting Ruins Literacy Skills,” in Bad Ideas About Writing. Edited by Cheryl E. Ball and Drew M. Loewe,          308-314. Web. https://textbooks.lib.wvu.edu/badideas/