AMAZING NEWS: SOCIAL MEDIA addiction Might Actually Be improving your writing skills. What if we told you that using social media can actually make you a better writer? Would you tweet for joy? Shout from the top of your Facebook newsfeed? Well get those thumbs ready and rarin to type: Weve got some pretty awesome news. Between all the LOLs, OMGs, and emojis, its long been speculated that text talk held no place in smart girl lingo— but new research out of the U.K. has found that using social media can actually improve your ability to read and write coherently. The study, issued by the UKs Department of Education, shows that using shorthand or textisms on social doesnt tamper with teens communication development—and in fact, those who texted, tweeted, and Tumbled the most were significantly better writers. Heres why: It turns out that the act of writing—regardless of the platform—does wonders for your communication skills (and yep, posting in the Teen Vogue comments section totally counts!). So the next time mom tells you its time to log off, remind her of this: Oxford University confirmed that students who avoid the internet are at a serious educational and social disadvantage, since reading, writing, and commenting on blogs provides an opportunity to engage with language in a setting outside the classroom. Which basically means your web surfing amounts to self-assigned extra credit. Right? Right. And if youre not much of a social media or comment thread maven, no worries. Our other favorite mode of one-on-one communication (texting, of course!) positively influences literacy levels, too. Sure, a few sentiments might get lost in translation—the emotions of emojis arent always easy to translate, after all—but the U.K.s Coventry University psych department has good news for obsessive texters, too. Their researchers found that switching gears from proper spelling to text shorthand is linked to strong language skills. Think of it this way: If you can get creative with language, then you probably have a pretty solid understanding of how it works in the first place, and for better or worse, creativity in communication is what all our textisms amount to. Whats more: Students in the Coventry University study who used the most abbreviations in their texts scored highest on a verbal reasoning test. Sounds like a good way to prep for midterm exams if you ask us… The moral of the story? Dont let the haters bring you down, because texting and social media really can turn you into a better writer. As long as you refrain from throwing in a wtvr or K3U into a homework assignment, youre golden.-teenvogue
Posted on: Fri, 07 Nov 2014 03:03:28 +0000
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