Does text messaging harm students' writing skills?

I am 23 and I commonly use text messages. However, I have never in my life felt the need to abbreviate things that are undeserved of abbreviation. For example, why would you abbreviate a 3 (you)letter word, down to a 1 letter word (u). Or a 4 letter word (what) into a 3 letter word (wut). It's just absurd. Maybe t9 should start correcting "wut" in "what" etc. Anyway, my main point here is that I have a little sister in 8th grade who like many is a die hard "texter". She is a terrible speller. Her and her friends cannot distinguish the different between various common words. "There" becomes commonplace for every form of the word, "They're", their, than, then, too, two, to. We are yet to see the consequences of a generation of kids who are less literate, not to mention who are going to look like inarticulate fools when talking/writing. Sorta like Bush.

Language is a life entity, and it is changing with the rest of the world's content. The changes are part of both,adapting to an active present and to the mistery of the future.

! d0nt d!nk !tz a prob cuz ! dont 3v3n wr!t3 l!k3 d@t @t @ll.! wr!t3 n0rm@l 3v3n 0n D@ C)MPUt3r.!'m a cho!r t3acher at r00sv3lt m@gnet sch00l in p30ri@ !llno!s @nd ! t3@ch My STUD3NTZ T) WR!E L!KE DIZ All D@ T!M3 My n@me IZ M@Rth@ FR3dr!cks0n

i think text messaging is good
I text a lot and it hasn't did anything to my writing or reading skills my reading skills have been good all my life but it has improved because now that i text i can read more of the stuf that people text.. people shorten it because it takes too long to text so they shorten it to communicate faster.

Yes I think texting does mess up people ...... but i love to text myself

I think that while some people think that kids use "text speak" most of us refuse and hate to abbreviate most anything. I try to do what I can to text the same as if I were speaking so that I am able to communicate what I mean effectively. People cannot just generalize and say that "text speak" is ruining kids formal writing. Especially because of us teenagers don't understand how to formally write in the first place unless we go to college to get a degree in English.

i have also an experiences about text messaging which is bad that was happen at first lunch of cellphone. my brother bought me once, cellphone at first it is so useful especially to me as a students, but there is one thing that i have learned 'bout cellphone. not to use the phone during examination/s. for it may use for cheating like what i have experienced before. me and my classmates use our phone in cheating that was when the cellphone was first lunch. then after i was too late to say no cause it's already done. that was the negative sides of text messaging that i have experienced not just an experienced but also a lesson.

i think that texting is okay. Many of us do text in proper ways, but if you notice it, it takes longer, and thats why most people shorten it..

I believe that texting does impact students' grammar. I teach sixth grade English, and constantly I have to remind students the difference between colloquial language and formal language. However, I still get papers that have "u" instead of "you," the number 2 instead of "to" or "too." Those are just minor errors that I have seen. If anything, students have to take the time to proofread their work. Unfortunately, I also see them lack in this area as well.

Sometimes it does because some people spell like it sounds like just like while texting. Some people forget if they are texting or not!!!!!!!!!!!!! So we should be able to keep it under control.