The Destructive Effect of Chatspeak on Standard English Usage

In every generation, the youth of the day have always created their own version of slang. During the 60s, it included words such as groovy. The 70s became cool. In the 80s, things were like totally rad. The 90s brought about the fact that people, clothes, and activities were da bomb. After the new millenium, technology became the determining factor about everything. Everyone had a computer connected to the internet and a cell phone.
Today, the most controversial version of slang is not a spoken word, but a typed word. Today’s adolescents and young adults have become caught up in what is known as chatspeak. Most of the people today communicate through cell phones. Teens have discovered that they can use their phones without getting into trouble by having the phones up to their ears. Instead, the young people simply type their messages to each other. It is easier to hide you phone while doing this in class. Because the teens are fighting against when typing their messages, they have developed a code. This is as entirely new language. The problem is that students don’t use standard English. They spell the words in special ways and use numbers and symbols for word.