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The Great Texting Debate
New York, 3:28 PM
Wed Nov 11
71 posts in the last 24 hours
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The Great Texting Debate |
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02/23/09
Where we've had problems is convincing students to keep the phones in their lockers. We've had to go to a policy that states if you are seen with a phone it will be taken away and you get it back at the end of the school day. The second time the phone is taken (in a semester), the student has to call their parents and the parent has to COME IN to personally pick up the phone. That usually takes care of the problem. Once a parent has to make a trip to the school to pick up a phone the student usually gets a good swift parental kick in the rear. We do have a few hard-core cases where the phone is taken 5, 6 and even 7 times in a semester.
I have seen students texting each other after school when they could have walked 20 feet and faced the person for a real conversation. This happens much more than you would think. I realize that texting is the new version of note-passing, but I'm also seeing too many students who are making a choice to converse in this fashion instead of having a conversation and that bothers me.
02/23/09
02/23/09
Sorry, but replacing legitimate words with single letters, numbers, or smiley faces does not a good writer make. Also, I will never believe syntax can be improved through writing in 160 characters or fewer. (<-- see that, right there, that's syntax. Less v. fewer. Your text messages won't teach you that!)
02/23/09
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02/23/09
The word "sexting" needs to die a million deaths and slip into the abyss never to be seen again, though.
02/23/09
I meant to add that texting is extremely useful because it gives you the option not to interrupt someone over something potentially unimportant or non-time-sensitive. Like, if I text my friend to tell her that I'm a cotton-candy flavored lolcat, or if I text someone to be like "Hey, dinner on Tuesday? Let me know."
It's just that I use the phone when I need to.
02/23/09
Donkey plus woman, if you're interested.
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02/23/09
I had a clear phone in my bedroom when I was a teenager and as soon as I would get home from school, I would call my best friend (who I hadn't seen in half an hour) and we would talk for hours after school. It's what teenagers do.
02/23/09
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02/23/09
The hell it does. It just leads to ten times more crap writing.
02/23/09
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02/23/09
SERIOUSLY. my friend just gave it an F because her head hurt after a paragraph.
02/23/09
But comp studies lost me with the "authentic voices" crap. It's not the sixties anymore, people; if you want to be taken seriously in writing, worry less about your authentic voice and more about your spelling and vocabulary! Sheesh. It's not brain surgery and never has been.
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02/23/09
My only pet peeve is when people text while they're talking to you. It's fine if they're trying to work something out or get information that they need, but carrying on two different conversations at the same time is just kind of rude.
02/23/09