Teens Think "Instant Messaging" Doesn't Mean "Writing"

A study conducted by Pew Internet & American Life Project revealed that most teens don't consider the electronic texts they enter on computers to be the same as the formal writing they do for schools and universities. According to the findings, no less than 85 percent of the teenagers with ages between 12 and 17 type electronic texts every once in a while, no matter if we're talking about emails, instant messaging or other forms of chatting. However, 60 percent of the youths don't think that chatting on the web means "writing" and consider it different from the writing they do at school.

"There is a raging national debate about the state of writing and how high-tech communication by teens might be affecting their ability to think and write," noted Amanda Lenhart, a senior research specialist at Pew who co-authored a report on the findings titled Writing, Technology and Teens.

"Those on both sides of the issue will see supporting data here. There is clearly a big gap in the minds of teenagers between the 'real' writing they do for school and the texts they compose for their friends. Yet, it is also clear that writing holds a central place in the lives of teens and in their vision about the skills they need for the future."

Some other findings of the research include: 63 percent of the teenagers said there is no difference between the way they type on the web and the way they write at school although 64 percent of the youths admitted they're mistakenly using their "web-writing style" at school. However, 73 percent of the respondents said that the electronic texts, no matter if we're talking about chatting, email or social networks, have no influence over the way they write at school.