One in Four People Prone To Using Text Words Instead Of 'Normal English'

A survey from SecurEnvoy has found that text phrases - such as C U L8r, LOL etc – have become so much part of our daily lives that one in four Brits claim they are Textlexic – prone to using text words instead of normal English.

Nearly 60% think text, instant messages and social media are changing how we write – and more than 40% think they are compromising their children’s ability to write correctly.

The survey of 1000 people, by SecurEnvoy and conducted by OnePoll, found that slightly more women than men suffer from Textlexia – at 27% compared to 23%, but the figure was highest among those living in Northern Ireland at more than a third.

By age it is perhaps unsurprising that the highest percentage of those who are Textlexic are in the 18-24 age group – but it is perhaps more surprising that the second highest percentage was among the 45-54 age group – showing the broad spread of text use.

The impact that text, instant messages and social media is having can be seen by the fact that 58% of people think it is changing the way we write – rising to 72% of people in the North East, compared to just 42% in the West Midlands. But overall people are less worried about their children, with just 40% saying they think that text, instant messages and social media are compromising their children’s ability to write correctly.

"The fact that a quarter of the population would class themselves as Textlexic, and tend to use text words rather than normal English shows the impact that texting and the mobile phone has had on society. Text words first came about when early text messages (or should I say ‘txt msgs’?) were restricted to just 160 characters and people wanted to find a way to say more with less letters. That restriction has pretty much disappeared now, except on Twitter, but the tendency to shorten words has stuck around," said Andy Kemshall, CTO at SecurEnvoy. "Given that our survey also found that nearly 60% have received a text that they didn’t understand because it contained text speak, perhaps it is a worrying trend and a source of confusion and miscommunication."