Lessons About Writing Learned from Text Messaging

Posted by admin

October 13, 2008

I’ve mentioned before that I think cell phone text messaging is doing a lot to contribute to the decline of quality in written communications, and when we look around at our written world, we notice a new sloppiness brought upon us by the necessary development of text messaging shorthand. While I’m no fan of text message jargon, I do think that our new written phone language can teach us a valuable lesson about writing.

Most us don’t text on nifty “QWERTY” phones - although the Blackberry is certainly gaining steam in the market - so we’ve intuitively learned an important technique that, if we were aware of it, can immensely improve our writing. Becausw we don’t want to type incredibly long words or phrases on our numeric phone keypads, we’ve learned to eliminate needless words or phrases. Though we often text using poor grammar and spelling, we can still take some of the skills we us on the cell phone and transfer them into our formal writing.

Shakespeare wrote that “brevity is the soul of wit.” This means, in other words, that the most effective messages are communicated with the least amount of words. Often when we write formally, we use too many words and unneccessary phrases to communicate our point. When we text message, to avoid confusion, tired thumbs, and texting limits, we create concise messages designed to communicate one un-distracted point.

When you write, try to take the skills you’ve developed in text messaging and transfer them onto the page. Don’t use ten words in a sentence when five will communicate the same point. Through brevity, your writing will stand out as profound and powerful. You already have these skills because of your phone, so why not use them for good instead of evil?

Academic Writing, Editing

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