The Idea of an Essay, Volume 4

128 The Idea of an Essay: Volume 4 871). Others have determined that with children, there is a positive link between textese and literacy. L. Verheijen quotes “experience with textese can reflect or even enhance children’s traditional literacy abilities”, (Verheijen, 2013, p. 590). A. Campbell suggests that because texting and instant messaging are becoming more and more popular, textisms may no longer be thought of as improper in the future (Campbell, 2014, p. 1&3).This wouldmean that being fluent in textese may actually save people the time and frustration they currently experience when dealing with “proper” language. There are around 775 million adults who are not completely literate. This translates to about one in every five adults being illiterate (Statistics on Literacy, n.d.). But even though these people cannot properly read or write, it does not mean they lack revolutionary ideas. Textese can allow lower level literates to freely express their ideas that could progress our world. Texting and instant messaging are mediums we can use to allow more ideas and concepts to shape our society. As technology progresses, more and more people are embracing instant messaging as a new form of communication. They are observing that there could be a linguistic benefit to texting as well as opening new paths to our futures. Texting and instant messaging will be something our children experience. Let us properly use this piece of technology to encourage our youth to be creative in their language and explore new ways of communicating. Communication is the key to successfulness. If we want our children to be successful, if we want our children to be those who propel the world into the future, let us encourage them to explore new options and think outside of the box. They need to have a medium over which to communicate their fresh ideas to peers and like it or not, this medium is changing from text-book tradition to time-saving textese. Will we try to stick to the old ways of “proper” language, or will we embrace the change, and produce new ways for people to more easily communicate and, consequently, open up our world to new ideas and concepts that have never before been heard? Works Cited Bostley, K. (2015, April 7). Is Texting Hurting Us Academically? Retrieved April 14, 2016, fromhttp://cccnews.info/2015/04/07/ is-texting-hurting-us-academically/ Campbell, A. (2014). The Effects of Text Messaging on Students’ Literacy. Retrieved April 14, 2016, from http://www.ecu.edu/ cs-lib/awards/wksparrow2014.cfm