Txting Is Killing Language. JK!!! by Jhon McWhorter (2013) [TED Summary]

Many people believe that a new way of communicating, texting, destroys the elegance and beauty of writing and language. However, John McWhorter presents the opposite idea in the Ted Talk video, "Txting is Killing Language. JK !!". He said it, " texting is miraculous!”. McWhorter believes that texting is not bad, as many claim. He talks about the topic of how when children first learn to write all their words crammed into the fact that, they write the way we speak. He refers to texting as, "fingered speech", because we type loosely and how we speak.

            He does not see texting as a form of writing. Instead, he states that it's actually a way of writing how you speak. Jhon says If we look back on history, most of the communication has spoken. Writing is a relatively new invention. So to say that writing in the way we speak is harmful to communications is ridiculous, because talking is the ultimate form of communication. Of course there are times when formal writing is required, as in a speech. However, texting is not meant to be a formal writing. The example he uses is "LOL" because it tends to be the most common among the people.

            Jhon McWhorter instead viewed it as "fingered speech". McWhorter really praises us for being able to communicate in various ways. He said, "texting actually is evidence of a balancing act that young people are using today ....". We're not replacing writing with texting, we're simply expanding our abilities in language.