The increasing popularity of social networking on Internet sites like Twitter.com and Facebook.com, instant messengers and text messaging has revolutionized the way we communicate with one another. It is more convenient and common for people to use abbreviated text on these sites, which many teachers and professionals argue is the reason they are getting formal documents where people continue to use shorthanded text and emoticons, like smiley faces.
Arielle Monroe, junior in public relations, disagrees.
“I’m able to separate my social life and my professional life; I wouldn’t type an English paper the same way I type a text message,” Monroe said.
Louise Benjamin, professor of mass communications, said social media and text messaging are contributing factors to poor grammar usage but not the only thing to blame.
“Students should use ‘tweeting’ and shorthand method of communication essentially as a second language, because in school and when they leave school, students will need to use formal English for papers, reports and business communication,” Benjamin said.
Social media sites and text messaging are also commonly being considered a major distraction in the classroom. Students are on their laptops and cell phones instead of paying attention in class. Taellor Howland, sophomore in elementary education, said he agrees social media sites are a major distraction.
“When I bring my laptop to class it makes me want to chat on Facebook instead of paying attention, and when I look around the classroom mostly everyone else is doing the same thing,” Howland said.
Some teachers think it would benefit students if laptops and cell phones were banned from the classroom, but many students argue that a no laptop policy would not be fair to students who use their computers to take notes.
“If computers were banned from class, people who use their computers to take notes would be pretty pissed off, but a paper and pen works the same, so I’m not sure what a ban would do,” Howland said.
Social media sites and text message language are causing controversy on college campuses and in businesses everywhere, but seems as though people are ignoring the pros of a social media network. For example, when the earthquake hit Haiti, victims in the area, news affiliates and people around the world used Facebook to learn what was happening, connect with loved ones and quickly disseminate information.
“If you care about productivity, don’t check your Twitter feed while you’re trying to get work done,” said Web usability consultant Jakob Nielsen in an article critiquing Twitter on May 8, 2009, on Businessweek.com. “Disruptions are deadly for productivity because it takes several minutes to reorient the brain every time you go off track looking at something else. Stick to checking updates once per day — for example, during lunch. All tweets will still be there.”
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