by Devin Cornelius ’12

Millions of texts are sent and received every day; our generation responsible for the majority. We text at school, at work, while doing our homework and even in bed. These text messages contain the 21 century’s language. Efficiency is key, converting our every sentence into the shortest form possible. Our virtual conversations are laden with “u, r, h8, cuz, etc.”

Teens are constantly criticized for their technology obsession and the harmful effects it has and will eventually have, but could we actually be doing something right for once? It may, indeed, be so. Our ability to condense and shorten information into efficient sentences could easily be utilized in school.

During AP World, for example, or, really, any slide-show based class where note taking is imperative for getting that A, our texting skills could come in handy. While frantically copying down dates, definitions and formulas, all teen texters have the ability to use their texting lingo. To save time and space, we can cut, spell and rearrange almost any word into a condensed form, easily recognizable to us. These classes are suddenly less stressful as teens everywhere can potentially find themselves saying , “Next slide!” instead of, “Can you go back? I didn’t finish.”