Sometimes technology is not a good thing!

I am not usually one to criticize technology, however, I am going to make an exception. Yesterday, one of my students asked me to help proof an English paper for her. She needed help coming up with a conclusion also. I read the paper and was quite disappointed. This is a pretty smart kid, however, I would put her composition skills on par with maybe a 5th grader. This isn't the first time I have seen this. I assigned a 5 page paper in my Sociology classes earlier this year and saw it over an over. These kids do not know how to put their thoughts on paper in complete sentences. They don't know how to use conjunctions, spell correctly, or used proper punctuation. I asked these students, "Do you text message alot?" The answer is always YES! I am convinced that the technology we use to text message and instant message on computers is ruining our children's ability to become good writers. My husband and I refuse to add text messaging to our cell phone plans, and our daughter must write without abbreviations and use correct punctuation and capitalization when composing e-mails and other compositions. She seems to have acquired her Dad's talent for eloquent composition, which we are very grateful. She doesn't think it is fair that she doesn't get to text message, but she'll end up a better writer in the end. I think it's a good tradeoff.