Neale Godfrey: Return to the Nest
Jill Patir: Hug Your Loved Ones a Little Tighter
Is the Internet Turning Kids Into Terrible Spellers?
Filed under: In The News, Education: Big Kids, Education: Tweens, Education: Teens
Whu sayz yur kidz can't spell? Credit: Getty Images
Time magazine, citing a paper just released by the English Spelling Society, reports the Internet could be turning our children into a bunch of illiterate idiots. Or "idyuts," as the kids would "prolly" write in their text messages.
"The increasing use of variant spellings on the Internet has been brought about by people typing at speed in chat rooms and on social networking sites where the general attitude is that there isn't a need to correct typos or conform to spelling rules," the paper says.
OMG! And you know the worst part? Kids often never encounter the actual spelling of words because they resort to asinine Internet abbreviations and insipid emoticons, which is really :( when you think about it.
Time reports that researchers for the English Spelling Society surveyed 18- to 24-year-olds and found one in five of them would not feel comfortable writing an important e-mail without a dictionary or electronic spelling checker.
But there's another spelling solution, favored by two-thirds of the young people surveyed: Just change the dictionary.
Put in all the stupid -- er, "alternative" -- spellings in the dictionary and call it good.
All this seems a pretty aggressive effort for the sake of people who are unlikely to ever see the inside of a dictionary -- or would care what's in there, anyway. But changing reality to conform with shortcomings (rather than vice versa) may be the wave of the future.
"Accurate spelling is of the utmost importance, but from this most recent survey we can conclude that the unprecedented reach and scale of the Internet has given rise to new social practices and it is now an agent in spelling change," Jack Bovill, chair of the English Spelling Society, tells Time.
Your<span>Voice</span>
Ask Us Anything About Parenting
Recently Asked
- Federal reserve board of governors appointments ( understanding owning a tv image )
- D. hickman v. intel, microsoft et.al federal district court dc (bill gates deposition part 1 you tube?) are you a owner of a company?
- What's the penalty for falsley claiming relation to a person does it have to be for monetary gain or proven not just a social gesture
TheTalkies:RelatedVideos
-
Tori Spelling Shares Family Video Featuring Husband, Dog And ... Chicken
Tori Spelling often uses Twitter to share news of her family's milestones. Just last week, she documented daughter Hattie's first steps. And Sunday, Spelling gave another glimpse into her happy household. "This is how we sleep... #Kids #Dogs #Chicken," she tweeted, along with a Vine video that featured husband Dean McDermott, her canine companion Mitzi and pet chicken Coco.
-
Spelling Collaborates With Kids on Fashion Line
Tori Spelling went through serious complications during the pregnancy and birth of her fourth child, Finn, but at the launch party for her Little Maven clothing line, the actress revealed how she used her hospitalization to strengthen her as a mom and designer. Tori revealed that she was designing clothes all while she and her newborn son were in the hospital "fighting together for [their] lives" and developing a "bond that can't be beat." RELATED: Tori Spelling Gives Birth to a Son
-
Pregnant Tori Spelling the Day Before Giving Birth
Just one day before giving birth to her fourth child on Thursday, a very-pregnant Tori Spelling and family joined a few lucky kids from the Boys & Girls Club of Burbank, CA for a day of fun activities. RELATED: Tori Spelling Announces Pregnancy #4
Tori, along with husband Dean McDermott, daughter Stella, 4 and son Liam, 5, helped to construct a sports area in the club's backyard as part of Lunchables "Never Be Bored Again" campaign. 10-month-old Hattie did not make an appearance.
-
Student Corrects Spelling Bee Judge
Many of us can go back to our childhoods and remember the agonizing feelings of competing in a spelling bee, and hoping to get the word right.
But, what if we told you it wasn't the kid who couldn't spell the word, but the people running the competition…
And they still disqualified the student?
SitesWeLove
- Site Map
- |
- Staff
- |
- Terms of Service
- |
- Privacy Policy
- |
- Trademarks
- |
- Advertise With Us
- |
- About Our Ads
- |
- AOL Downloads
- |
- Contact Us
- |
© Copyright 2012 AOL Inc. All Rights Reserved.
Aol Family
ReaderComments (Page 1 of 1)
11-24-2010 @ 4:44PM
Alicia said...Have you seen some of the forums on this website? Before you race off to blame the internet, take a close look at the people raising these children. I'm fairly convinced half the adults who comment on articles here are utterly braindead. The grammar is regularly atrocious and the spelling is absolutely heart-stopping. Plenty of people can't even string together complete thoughts in order to form a coherent sentence. With that sort of example, what motivation is there for children to learn to spell?
Reply
11-26-2010 @ 3:06PM
shannon marlow said...how about letting them play some games that actually have some educational value?! then they can still enjoy internet games, but be learning while they're at it. Http://bit.ly/GamesForFree has some good ones and requires no membership!
11-26-2010 @ 5:02PM
Dirty Doggg said...Seriously, I'm 35 and I know adults around my age who can't spell. Quite common is mixing up "you're" and "your," and "two," "to," and "too." I almost feel like a stiff dork, like I'm being fastitious, in using standard English spelling and punctuation in my Facebook posts, text messages, and IM messages. I think knowing and using standard English actually sets me apart from the crowd—in a bad way. I wish this weren't the case.
Reply
11-30-2010 @ 12:59AM
Bill said...I have always been a terrible speller. For the last few years I have been able to hide behind the internet with my "inventive" text messages. My old teaching nuns must be rolling in their graves.
Reply