Texting-Related Poor Grammar Is Nothing to LOL About

A Penn State study says middle school-age texting habits could lead to declining language and grammar skills. What do you think? Take our poll.

"Tweens" who use text messages to communicate with friends and family might be at risk of declining language and grammar skills, according to researchers at Penn State University. The middle school-age children who frequently use language adaptations, known as techspeak, when they text performed poorly on a grammar test because they often use shortcuts, such as homophones, omissions of non-essential letters and initials to compose a text message. Examples are LOL (laughing out loud), gr8 (great), nite (for night) and *$ (Starbucks). The researchers said using these shortcuts can hinder a tween's ability to switch between techspeak and proper grammar. Will texting spell the end of proper grammar and spelling? What do you think? Take our …

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Mommy A La Mode

Is Texting Taking a Toll on Teens?

OMG! Mommy columnist Jamie Kunchick's stepchildren sent 20,000 texts in a month between the two of them.

After noticing my stepchildren were taking more than an hour to clean 20 minutes worth of after-dinner dishes the other day, I decided to check up on them. I peeked around the corner of the kitchen and saw two teenagers fixated on their cell phones. For every dish my stepdaughter Kaitlynn put in the dishwasher, she sent a text. As my stepson Eddie made his way towards the trash can, he stopped after every step to reply to a text. It was ridiculous. Afraid they were going to be there all night, I managed to grab their attention by clearing my throat and noting that they would get done a lot quicker if they would just put down the phones. They looked at me like I had gone mad. What’s the big deal, I thought? How in-depth of a conversation …

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