Ever since cell phones became popular among people, there has been an important question: Will SMS help or harm us in the long run? Many people have criticized or praised the new technology and the way everyone is using it. Two journalists, John Humphrys and Clive Thompson, have very different views on texting; Thompson believes this is helping today's generation to write more, while Humphrys thinks it is destroying the English language. Personally, I don't think the use of modern technology is entirely evil and, in fact, I believe it can help the language we use. Humphrys' main argument in his article was that SMS will change the future of the English language for the worse. . Humphrys believes the language will change to keep up with the increasingly lazy way people write. One of his examples demonstrating this is the Oxford English Dictionary no longer using hyphens in some of its words. Angus Stevenson, the editor of the Oxford English Dictionary, said: “we no longer have time to take the hyphen key”. To Humphrys it is absurd that no one has the time to write a more sophisticated and grammatically correct message for their friends anymore. Another of John Humphrys' points is that texting does not allow the writer to have a good conversation with the person he is writing to. Since messages are so clipped and scrunched together, it can take a long time to figure out what the other person is actually trying to tell you. Humphrys' example is a message he received once that said "IMHO UR GR8". It would take a while to realize that the message was “In my humble opinion, you are amazing” (Humphrys). Because of all the time and headaches people spend trying to decipher the jargon of the text, the conversation fails and... halfway through the assignment... which were graded, I made sure to use the grammar and l Correct spelling. It's common knowledge, almost instinctive, that you use your best writing skills on important documents. Technology is not a bad thing; in fact it can actually make your life easier. John Humphrys might think that texting is destroying the English language, but I agree more with Clive Thompson; technology is actually helping people improve their writing skills as they write more. I believe that technology is a good thing, and while it may sometimes seem like it is changing the world we live in, I don't think it will ultimately change for the worse. Works Cited Humphrys, John. “H8 Messages: How SMS is Destroying Our Language.” Post online. September 2007. Network. 14 December 2011Thompson, Clive. "Clive Thompson on the new literacy". Wired magazine. August 2009. Web. 14 December. 2011