Ready for your daily dose of
wildly speculative extrapolation and
unfounded fear-mongering? Predictive texting is the latest suspect in the ongoing war against things that make children dumb. A new study from Australia's Monash University has shown that predictive texters finish their exams faster and with more errors than others, because of course, when your mobile finishes your words in a text, you expect it to finish your sentences in a test. We jest, and there may be a sliver of truth to this contention, but let's be forthright here -- you could probably do more damage to your brain with a good night's
alcohol intake than you can with a lifetime of texting.
[Via
Switched]
posted Aug 13th 2009 2:03AM
Actually a lifetime of texting would seem to be worst than one night drinking. That is unless your drunk driving and texting cause that's just not smart.
Ugh, paul....do i need to say more ?
this coming from an apple fanboy.
ok now onto the actual comment,haha. But on predictive text for some phones it forces you to actually use the correct ya know SPELLING ? and grammar.
Well I guess we finally know what the problem with Mr. Chapel is.
just because people who text (in this study) is dumber
doesn't mean texting is the cause of this.
Come on engadget, this is simple logic!!!!
is dumber? have you been texting too much? look, it IS simple logic. studies found that kids who watch TV more instead of reading can't read, shocker. they get the input of words (though sometimes that's debatable dependent on what show they're watching), but they're not comprehending. just because predictive texting spells the words correctly does not correlate to the amount of time the person doing the texting actually pays attention to said correct spelling. predictive texting does not have correct grammar checking, MS word does, and it really isn't that good, notoriously so. if you have your phone type for you, that "jest" you made isn't really so funny. i've seen it in action where kids use short hand and abbreviations on freaking class tests, because that's what their expectations are these days. i'd be willing to bet that there's even a correlation between a child's vocabulary and the amount of time he or she spends texting, tweeting, or any of that other nonsense. just look at the above comment.
That would be "are" dumber, not is.
how do you know people is dumber?
BTW, it's not about being smart or stupid, it's about developing bad habits...
I hope that was sarcasm...
if not: "just because people who text (in this study) is dumber"
exactly.
I turned off the predictive text on my winmo phone because it doesn't have words in the dictionary that I randomly throw in at times so I don't find it useful. :P
Winmo also didn't autocorrect many words for me in the first place anyways, the most it ever did was add apostrophes where needed.
Don't bash on my grammar right now either - beer. :P
@Tom Reinke
That's why I use a QWERTY keyboard. Forget predictive texting! mwahaha
I really hate using predictive text on SMS.
there's obviously correlation between texting and 'dumbness'. there's a chance that the results obtained come from pure chance, but i'm sure the probability of this coming from pure chance is slim. go study statistics
"Ugh, paul....do i need to say more ? "
That was the point, d00d.
Well if their test subjects are NASCAR-loving-chinstrap-having-trucker-hat-wearing douchebags like in the picture then i'm not suprised at all that they are getting such results.
This is one of those statistics where they really don't care about the type of person they're pulling data from. People who text often, ie those with friends, often are dumb because they're busy getting high or skipping random classes in high school/college.
It's the same concept with Cash 4 Clunkers/CARS. The people who actually trade in the cars and can afford a brand new one just find it as a nice bonus for getting rid of their crappy rides that they're too lazy to turn in. The people who could really benefit from the gas savings (ie, the poor) can't afford the car payments so they're just stuck at a brick wall.
Don't get me started on how it's "greener" to junk a lot of metal and trade up.
Ugh, I'm going on a tangent.
Also, cocks.
People who text often, ie those with friends, often are dumb because they're busy getting high or skipping random classes in high school/college.
Did you really just say that most students with friends are dumb?
And Cash for Clunkers isn't supposed to help the poor, nor is supposed to make the air more fresh, it's purpose is to stimulate the economy by boosting new car sales. I'm personally against it, but at least understand the point of it before bashing it.
Ok, this is just stupid. Why not just change the title to Predictive Texting instead of saying Texting period. Not all phones use predictive texting. I for one spell out every word myself and I'm texting, doesn't mean I'm getting dumber.
i think the point wasn't that it makes you dumber, it makes you dumb, stunts your growth and ability to comprehend the english language. but you're right, predictive texting should be emphasized.
@Sammy
Because that would make it an accurate headline, and Engadget seems to prefer sensationalist headlines.
And I don't use predictive texting either. I can type quickly enough as it is.
This is great now since my iPhone doesn't work on T-Mobile anymore!!!
I text with complete senten
nice.
this kinda reminds me of candleja
You have to complete the word "Candlejack" befo
I must say, it's very thought of him to press the Add Comment button after kidnapping people for saying Candlejack, isn't i
I have to agree with this article. After just getting out of high school, I can say:
Everyone who constantly texts on their phone in High School is a freaking dumb ass.
I seriously can't stand when people shorten words, or use slang through text messages or even IRC/AIM/MSN.
wen u rite msgs like dis it iz not kool.
It just makes me think you're drunk or just had a serious brain injury.
Honestly that makes me have a brain injury when I try to read that.
Having just got out of high school too, I can agree with you to a certain extent. But at the same time they're a lot of just straight up dumbasses in high school whether they text or not.
Ok - the occasional abbreviation (like btw) is perfectly acceptable, but seriously - there's absolutely no reason to replace is with iz and cool with kool.
But of course I'm still stuck in the the 20th Century land of no texting. (and high test scores ... although I'm still not sure these are related)
"I seriously can't stand when people shorten words, or use slang through text messages or even IRC/AIM/MSN."
I love that you abbreviated "IRC/AIM/MSC"... Ironnnnnyyyyy
Uhh patriot, those are standard abrreviations. IRC is really is called IRC short for Internet Relay Chat by most people who uses it especially me. People uses programs like mIRC to get on there. The same applies to AIM or MSN which both of those programs uses www.aim.com or www.msn.com for people to identify with. It's not really irony you're trying to claim here.
I agree with you totally Stephen. I dislike it when people don't use proper grammar or spelling when typing or texting. It hurts my brain to try and read the abbreviated text messages or blocks of text on the internet.
How hard is it to write an extra few letters?
Hw hrd ist 2 rite n xtra few letters?
I think this is really dumb, honestly.
First of all, I use predictive texting, and my phone does not finish my words, I do. And I think having it actually helps because sometimes I even learn how to spell a word I don't know as well correctly by trial and error. And what's this "finishes your sentence in a test" stuff? I'm pretty sure words don't just appear on the page... Either way, I think all these "studies" are just meant to give a yet another reason for people to dislike texting, or somehow try and get rid of it. Oh, and I also spell out, punctuate, and use correct grammar while texting.
If predictive texting is bad, then spellcheck must be too. 'Cause then you'll expect your words to spell themselves correctly on a test. /Sarcasm
i dont kn abo sente compl bu certa ca se whe wor compl ca affe ones spelli abil[space][space] its tru tha when one starts typing a wor the rest of th wor appears on th screen bu if we learned by readi without any form of prac or repiti th math woul be muc easi to lear[space][space]
No, see... these are the same people that would have been lazy on the test anyway. They've just been fooling some of their friends because their phones pick up where they've left off. I have an iphone now and I tend to override the damn thing because it messes up more than I do when I have a full keyboard.
You start with stupid, you end up with stupid. You start with properly educated, the end result is still: properly educated.
Tech making it easier for people that want to spend less time doing something (but still know *how* do it properly) is useful. Just because it doesn't make idiots *smarter* doesn't mean it's the reason for the issues in the first place. The problems start with the parents/friends and are further ingrained by shitty schools.
I think this is more of a correlation, not a causation.
Yep, and on that topic, this says it all: http://xkcd.com/552/
Doent lieve ur comentz heer, izza gramer trap!
Seriously, things said under this article are going to be 10% comments, 80% people extrapolating on how horrible some random mistake someone in the 10% of people who left actual comments made, and 10% made up statistics (you see what I did there, *nudge, nudge, wink*).
btw- texting is extremely outdated, and I hope it dies out quickly. It's a horribly overpriced and inefficient means of communication (when compared with something like email, which works way better across more platforms than just mobile phones).
I don't use t9 - I find it too confusing.
Does that make me smarter or dumber, in this case?
yes, t9 is key for non qwerty phones. trust me at first I thought t9 was stoopid
Gi jumps right in to prove the study right - answering a smarter or dumber question with "yes" and intentionally spelling stupid incorrectly.
Ugh.. T9 sucks if you run into a word it doesn't know.
Eh, I'm sure there was a huge brouhaha over calculators too. And man when the typewriter came out, I'm sure they complained about the death of script.
There's validity in the calculator statement though. Don't believe me? Go to a retail store and buy an item In cash when the registers don't work. Watching a teen struggle to figure out the tax is probably the most fun I've ever had at Blockbuster Video lol.
I text but I type normally, this is odd, on switched there was just a post where some person ran a study and they found that people who texted actually used better grammar and such.
Really? Well you just provided an example of a run-on sentence. I agree it's "normal"--but it's also dumb "and such".
Dear scientists,
Please add the above example to your sample data.
Regards,
Dave
I've always felt that ever since AIM became popular, and people began shortening words online, the average person's overall comprehension of the English language began to suffer. How many posts on any given forum before you run into the wrong version of It's, There, Were, and To? This generation has access to more knowledge over a cell phone than our parents had in their neighborhood libraries, but apparently, using an apostrophe is too difficult to decipher. My news feed on Facebook drives me insane!
I've proof read a few college papers from peers in the past, and I was shocked at how many times I came across "cuz" instead of because. As someone said before, I see correlation, but I'm not entirely sure it's causation.
I would have to say, one of the things that really drives me crazy is when people write "could of" or "should of" instead of "could've" or "should've".Also, the proper use of thier, there and they're. I see it way too often and I think it may have started around the time when schools started teaching kids the whole "sound it out" method of spelling, instead of teaching kids how to spell and use proper grammar. My wife is 26 and she is, probably, one of the worst spellers I know. I would have to say one of the worst things she spelled wrong was ingredience instead of ingredients.
Dear Engadget,
Please stick to gadgets and stay off of pseudoscience (the "study" above would qualify as such).
The whole world population is getting dumber regardless of texting...Nowadays people use calculator to find out how much is 5x8...