Predictive Texting Turning Kids Into Idiots

SolidBladez said:
My sister uses predictive texting. The only time I get annoyed is when she doesn't capitalize 'i" or put a period at the end of the sentence. Damn pet peeves. :(
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I just can't understand the lack of punctuation. It just makes things easier to read, see?
 
I've always used full words and complete sentences when texting. Among others I know, my brother uses that txtspk shit, too.

Whatever, I can read it.
 
Good thing I barely text, and when I do I use full sentences
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So do I. When I write or post, grammar, composition and spelling is important to me. I want things I write to have a look of intelligence (and a standard I set for myself). I like to think I went to school for something. I'm one of those guys who uses the edit button to correct spelling or wording. I can't stand the abbreviated text the kids use, it's very irritating and just looks plain dumb ( but apparently looks cool to the kids). When I see posts in forums like that (and no caps), I'm left with the impression I'm reading something from an idiot. Call a kid these days an idiot or a punk and he thanks you. I'm just getting old I guess.
 
I've always held somewhat of a disdain for text messages. I'm currently attending a local art school, and with simple empirical observation it's plainly obvious that the failures are the ones with their phones open. They may as well disclose the damn thing right in the air. Professor always notices, everyone does, you're not fooling anyone. "oh you're clever ruse to hide your phone under your desk and text 'lol omfg' to your sophomoric friends, how could anyone possibly notice your cunning plan?" It's really disgusting how people have little to no respect for knowledge, or money for that matter(school isn't cheap).

Yes, teachers should focus more on finding ways to pique an individual's intellectual curiosity. It's not the difficulty of the material that is important, if you stimulate the mind enough, the student will then study merely for joy and to better themselves. I know personally that some of my teachers have inspired me to be a better human being.

The education system is complete and utter garbage as well. I exclaim "system" due to the fact I want the teachers to be seen as their own separate microcosm, because teacher preference is very subjective. The fact of the matter is that our education system merely sorts students out, the worker bees from parasites. I know that metaphor sounds pejorative but it's not meant to be. Most of what you learn in high school you end up forgetting, your entire education is one continual benchmark to place you in the work force.
Haha, here's a better analogy for the [H]ard forum. The enthusiast cards are typically used for very high level gaming, and generally technically savvy people that buy them will use them in various ways. Sure they cost a lot more to buy, but you get so much more for hiring the enthusiast card. I'm not going any further with this because I want to end my rant.

That's just really the tip of the iceberg, parents can be a problem, social forces can be a problem, marketing of this idiocracy (MTV for one) is tantamount to a beguiling determent of human intelligence.

I'm getting too pessimistic about the future of our country. I apologize if I offended any one.

READ A BOOK!:mad:
 
Mike89 said:
Call a kid these days an idiot or a punk and he thanks you.
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Where did that come from? Are they being sarcastic? Or does that have some sort of meaning that just flew over my head? I am really bad at connections and conversation cues so it is entirely possible that I just misunderstood this.
 
The-UselessNoob said:
Where did that come from? Are they being sarcastic? Or does that have some sort of meaning that just flew over my head? I am really bad at connections and conversation cues so it is entirely possible that I just misunderstood this.
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It's "cool" to be an idiot or a punk, if your both you're f-ing James Dean.

And yes I'm 22 years old and I know who James Dean is.;)
 
thefewtheproud said:
"at risk youth" has nothing to do with financial status. It is reffering to kids who are wrongly influenced and likely to head down the wrong path. With this usually comes a "don't give a shit" attitude towards acamdemic opportunities. I have also seen plenty of "stupid-ass rich kids" that were "at risk".
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It does have something to do with wealth though, because at risk rich kids would just be sent to expensive private schools and psychologists, instead of some state funded hack from the community college down the street.
 
Capitalisation is the difference between "I helped my Uncle Jack off a horse" and "i helped my uncle jack off a horse".
 
adrift02 said:
They think predictive texting is the problem? Hell, I don't even try to spell words correctly in Google anymore, and that's with a full keyboard. At least with a cell phone you have an excuse...
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I was thinking the same thing. I'm texing now and I can't stand it when people can't text full sentences and have even issues spelling. It doesn't really bother me with little things like that spelling too much because sometimes it's quicker to type certain things on a phone faster a certain way. It's only an issue when you can't differentiate that from your english class and make it look like a giant fucking text message. That's when you know you're a moron.

I don't think people were smarter before than they are now, I just think they might be lazier.
 
Decko87 said:
I've always held somewhat of a disdain for text messages. I'm currently attending a local art school, and with simple empirical observation it's plainly obvious that the failures are the ones with their phones open. They may as well disclose the damn thing right in the air. Professor always notices, everyone does, you're not fooling anyone. "oh you're clever ruse to hide your phone under your desk and text 'lol omfg' to your sophomoric friends, how could anyone possibly notice your cunning plan?" It's really disgusting how people have little to no respect for knowledge, or money for that matter(school isn't cheap).

Yes, teachers should focus more on finding ways to pique an individual's intellectual curiosity. It's not the difficulty of the material that is important, if you stimulate the mind enough, the student will then study merely for joy and to better themselves. I know personally that some of my teachers have inspired me to be a better human being.

The education system is complete and utter garbage as well. I exclaim "system" due to the fact I want the teachers to be seen as their own separate microcosm, because teacher preference is very subjective. The fact of the matter is that our education system merely sorts students out, the worker bees from parasites. I know that metaphor sounds pejorative but it's not meant to be. Most of what you learn in high school you end up forgetting, your entire education is one continual benchmark to place you in the work force.
Haha, here's a better analogy for the [H]ard forum. The enthusiast cards are typically used for very high level gaming, and generally technically savvy people that buy them will use them in various ways. Sure they cost a lot more to buy, but you get so much more for hiring the enthusiast card. I'm not going any further with this because I want to end my rant.

That's just really the tip of the iceberg, parents can be a problem, social forces can be a problem, marketing of this idiocracy (MTV for one) is tantamount to a beguiling determent of human intelligence.

I'm getting too pessimistic about the future of our country. I apologize if I offended any one.

READ A BOOK!:mad:
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Nah you didn't offend too many, I don't think. I see where you are coming from. I see that crap all the time in class. People think they are very sly with their phones under their tables chatting away on a text, but everyone sees, no one cares. It's becoming the norm, and they don't want to be there, they want to be somewhere else but who doesn't? Unless you have a passion for something you want to be somewhere else. Sorry, I've had a few too many I guess haha.
 
I guess it's good full keyboard phones are free with contract now. Samsung saving the world one electronic device at a time.
 
My public education was excellent. I contend that it has nothing to do with the teachers that preform a thankless task in this country. I say that it is the ignorance of today's youth and the ignorance of their parents. You can put the asses in the seats but you can't make them learn. If half of them lived with my father for a week, I bet you would see immediate improvement.;) I only know one man who is harder, and that is my grandfather. God help you if you ever got a "C" in my house. :eek:
 
BallerX said:
My public education was excellent. I contend that it has nothing to do with the teachers that preform a thankless task in this country. I say that it is the ignorance of today's youth and the ignorance of their parents. You can put the asses in the seats but you can't make them learn. If half of them lived with my father for a week, I bet you would see immediate improvement.;) I only know one man who is harder, and that is my grandfather. God help you if you ever got a "C" in my house. :eek:
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It was a "B" in mine. ugh... I'm 28 years old and in college and still get bitched at for getting anything less than an "A"/
 
I see this all the time in my lectures. Yes, we see you texting under the desk or updating your facebook: You are not sly. Just sit in the back, type quietly and try not to make an ass of yourself and we won't have any problems. It's your dime (or your parents/state) if you want to waste it twittering how you stole someones s.o. then so be it.

Personal anecdote: I had a student email me her paper that included a few 'lols and omfgs' from her email address which was sexxbunny85atserverchangedtoprotectthestupid.com. Yes, that is sexx with two x's. I just shook my head and emailed her back with directions to the writing center.

Why oh why can't people write clearly and concisely in an academic setting anymore? Topic, evidence, support, analysis, conclusion, transition. Repeat as needed. Rocket science it is not.
 
Predictive text makes you an idiot?

Bullshit.

Perhaps predictive works different on phones released in the states (i doubt it) but on my phone, predictive means you only have to press each key once per character and it guesses which of the 3 letters assigned to that key it should use.

What that means is you have to spell words properly for it to work, misspell the beginning of a word and it will get confused and not offer you the word you wanted by the end.

Its for that reason that most people I know actually turned predictive text OFF, because they prefer to tap out:
442444222288 for HAI2U

Of course it depends on the manufacturer, Nokia's predictive is crap, I've not tried many others but I will only buy Sony Ericsson because their implementation is the only one I've found so far that makes writing in proper sentences easier.
 
Raxiel said:
Predictive text makes you an idiot?

Bullshit.

Perhaps predictive works different on phones released in the states (i doubt it) but on my phone, predictive means you only have to press each key once per character and it guesses which of the 3 letters assigned to that key it should use.

What that means is you have to spell words properly for it to work, misspell the beginning of a word and it will get confused and not offer you the word you wanted by the end.
.
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^^^^^^ this

I've tried to show my 9 year old niece how to use predictive text and she just doesn't get it. She can spell pretty well for her age but some of her friends are almost illiterate. It's astonishing and I put the blame on txt speak.
 
Kelvarr said:
Alternatively,

"I helped my Uncle, Jack, off a horse."

works the same capitalized or not.
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Hey....where did the edit go?

Anyway...

EDIT: I agree with you completely though. No capitalization bothers me.
 
This explains a lot. Overall quality of incoming college students has been in the decline lately.
 
Kelvarr said:
Alternatively,

"I helped my Uncle, Jack, off a horse."

works the same capitalized or not.
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Actually, it'd be "I helped my uncle, Jack, off a horse." :D However, it doesn't matter how it's written since the spoken form would sound the same regardless of capitalization.
 
Kids weren't any smarter before this decade.

Texting is just passing notes, magnified.

Some teachers do well, some get by, and some do a poor job.

Resources and expectations are greater than ever for students. College attendance is often assumed to be the plan. It is less difficult to reach a basic level of understanding. Therefore there are many who work dilligently and achieve, but others who use the easy way to reach mediocrity and those who just get passing grades or less.

The generation gap is in some ways more pronounced than ever. Adults fifty years ago could recall days of playing ball spontaneously (neighborhoods are more spread out now), running around in nature, playing war or dolls, etc. that have not ceased but now kids can automatically get into phones, computers, mp3 players, HDTV and Blu-Ray, etc. Even for Gen-X it was an analog world with books matching TV in basic excitement. Sports are expensive and specialized, fewer adults relate to skateboarding compared to pick-up football.

Adults are definitely not rejecting digital tethering, almost every company has someone attached to a computer 9-5. The same goes for car dependence, usually. Then we want kids (in general) to just have mirth and eagerness to read books and eat healthy while exercising 3 hours a day.

Kids had "sexting" in 90s chat rooms when they were popular.
 
The only form of predictive texting that I can see being an issue is the kind that's on the iPhone. You can really butcher a word and many times it will correct it properly. Of course when I do type something properly it'll change it to nonsense, but that's another issue.
 
ryan_975 said:
It was a "B" in mine. ugh... I'm 28 years old and in college and still get bitched at for getting anything less than an "A"/
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I lived in the same kind of house. I'm 33 now and going back to school and now I bitch at *myself* for not doing better.

I just started going back to college after 14 years and boy have things changed. The first thing I noticed was that all the girls (and maybe one or two guys) had their cells out texting during the whole class (under the table, of course.) At the end of the semester, these were the same people needing a B on the test just to pass the course (most of which failed.) The student's attitude toward learning has really gone downhill.

On the instructor's end: The instructors have made the classes ridiculously easy. They give every opportunity for extra credit. They make deals with the students to raise their grades. 14 years ago, if you were getting an F, you got an F. Now you can do a little extra credit to squeak a D past at the end of the semester. How students are not getting straight A's with courses taught in this manner is amazing.

The current state of education (at least in this country... the US for our foreign friends) is disgusting. But I freely admit that I couldn't think of a solution that will satisfy all parties involved *and* improve the situation.
 
Boy bands and Disney distract as much as texting.

synapsis said:
I lived in the same kind of house. I'm 33 now and going back to school and now I bitch at *myself* for not doing better.

I just started going back to college after 14 years and boy have things changed. The first thing I noticed was that all the girls (and maybe one or two guys) had their cells out texting during the whole class (under the table, of course.) At the end of the semester, these were the same people needing a B on the test just to pass the course (most of which failed.) The student's attitude toward learning has really gone downhill.

On the instructor's end: The instructors have made the classes ridiculously easy. They give every opportunity for extra credit. They make deals with the students to raise their grades. 14 years ago, if you were getting an F, you got an F. Now you can do a little extra credit to squeak a D past at the end of the semester. How students are not getting straight A's with courses taught in this manner is amazing.

The current state of education (at least in this country... the US for our foreign friends) is disgusting. But I freely admit that I couldn't think of a solution that will satisfy all parties involved *and* improve the situation.
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To which college do these anecdotes apply?

Every female failed the class or barely passed it, with non-stop texting?

Are students from other countries also doing this?
 
The-UselessNoob said:
I think that isn't entirely fair, we can't just blame everything on the teaching practices, because those teaching practices stem from parents complaining about previous ones, which stems from their children not being able to meet requirements. For once blaming children from something is actually justified. Having standards low enough that everyone can just fall through is part of the problem, but it also falls to the children themselves to try to further themselves rather then be content with what you can get away with.
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Plus the fact that a teacher will get harassed or threatened with suit if they don't give little Jimmy flying rainbow stars no matter how much of a worthless drooling idiot he is.

Yes, there are some bad teachers in this country but there's a lot more 'good' teachers who got sick of getting fucked by the worthless bureaucrats that not only won't stand behind them, but actively facilitate these failings of the system.


Obi_Kwiet said:
This is why I fully support harsh derision for using sloppy texting grammar and spelling on forums.
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And this.
 
As miserable as our education system is.. you realize that the minimum level of education is still soaring right? While a lot of retards are getting into colleges and getting their AAs, it's inflated the number of people who have AAs and hence where a high school degree was once acceptable, requires an AA now and where an AA was needed, a BA is needed. The playing field is really staying even across the board, just demanding a higher level of education to be reached by kids anymore.. and eventually when scholarships stop getting handed out so easily and the prices of classes continue to rise (already starting to see this), the bubble is going to burst and the system that we're using now is just going to collapse.
 
ryan_975 said:
Exactly what does that explain? I've met just as many stupid-ass rich kids that couldn't find their ass if they were given a map to it.
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I don't understand how so many people in this thread don't recognize that this problem is not new. I work with countless people who send emails with misspelled words (no, not typos), incorrect verbs usage and almost everyone uses useless phrases like, "in this day and age," which is a wordy useless POS phrase.

And FYI, virtually all of these emails are written by people with at least one college degree.
If they can't write correctly, but they can speak the language correctly, then they'll pick it up. If they can't, then they'll continue to write crap.
 
riot8ap said:
I just can't understand the lack of punctuation. It just makes things easier to read, see?
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I'm more forgiving on SMS than email. You only have 160 characters, and capitalizing/punctuation on phones is often a major PITA.

With that said, I have an HTC touch phone and I bought cooteks keyboard (12 or 13 bucks), and it's awesome. Predictive is excellent and it always capitalized I.

Just checked, and it looks like they just released a version for Android. The price for all versions -- I think it's all versions -- 12.99 before using the Ready4Android coupon, which drops it to under 10 bucks.

It's worth every penny of it....sorry for that [H]ot Deal diversion.
 
nilepez said:
If i see one more person misspell loser, I'm going to go postal on every internet user in the world(*).

(*) yes I have the access codes to every nuke in the U.S., China and Russia. I'll take all of you loosers[sic] out.;)
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^^^This!


How the --->fuck<--- can you use a keyboard and not know the difference between "lose" and "loose". There's nothing more annoying when reading forums.
 
IMO We really need to get away from the "every child is a special" and back to reality with the "you are not unique, there are countless others like you with the same skill-set as you, and there is always someone better than you".

The sense of entitlement, students have today, is incredibly disconcerting. There are students who believe that showing up for class three times a week should be enough to earn the credit. They believe that no matter what garbage they hand in, they should get top marks. This coupled with parents who are completely incapable or unwilling to actually parent their kids, is a recipe for disaster. Instead of the parents forcing little Jimmy to take responsibility for his actions, they blame everything on the teacher, the school, and the school board.

In my experience, the parents who are the most vocal about the school "not doing enough", are typically the ones who have very little involvement in their child's education, let alone any extracurricular activities at the school.

Teachers have very little power, to deal with students, today. Try and take a cell phone away from a student, and the parents are on the phone with the principal and the school board. To put it bluntly, teenagers have no need for a cell phone in school. I have very little respect for parents who allow their children to take cell phones and mp3 players to school. These devices distract the student using them, and disrupt the rest of the class, selfishly taking away from the few who take pride in their education.
 
i text a good bit...on an old cell phone without any kind of qwerty setup, with a small screen...

I don't use the predictive thing at all, some people tried to get me to use it...i prefer just typing it out...that way i'm fast and accurate.

and it still beats talking to people on the phone.
 
Intelligence is genetic not environmental. So there.

Changes in language mean squat with regard to intelligence. Even Shakespeare was considered vulgar by many back in the day.
 
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