The Texting and Literacy Debate

Few language discourses have generated as much public anxiety as the debate about texting, social media, and their effects on literacy. Since the rise of mobile phones and instant messaging in the late 1990s and early 2000s, commentators have warned that text-speak is destroying the English language and undermining the ability of young people to read and write. Linguists, however, have challenged this narrative with evidence from research.

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The Moral Panic

The term moral panic was coined by the sociologist Stanley Cohen (1972) to describe a situation in which a group or phenomenon is defined as a threat to social values and interests, prompting a disproportionate response from the media, public, and authorities.

Key Definition: Moral panic — a widespread feeling of fear or anxiety, often exaggerated or irrational, that some cultural behaviour, group, or phenomenon poses a threat to social values, standards, or safety. The concept was developed by Stanley Cohen (1972).

The debate about texting and literacy has many of the hallmarks of a moral panic: