Technology Leads to More Teen Writers

by Gina Catanzarite, Program Director, Lumiari TEEN WRITER! camps

According to a Pew Research Center study titled Writing, Technology and Teens, a whopping 93% of teens say they write for their own pleasure . . . however, much of their personal writing consists of instant messaging, phone text messages, emails and material written on social networking sites.

Here’s the problem: Most teens also say they don’t consider that material to be “real” writing.

I disagree!

Those informal text communications consist of personal messages to friends re-telling events of the day, and that displays storytelling skills, opinion-writing skills, and even basic journalism skills (who/what/where/when/why/how). Teens bloggers are writing about social issues and personal experiences. Other teens are writing material ranging from journal entries to fan fiction to music lyrics --creative formats that inspire both the writerand the reader.

Sure, young people usually ignore the rules of capitalization, punctuation and grammar in those electronic and digital communications and I’d like to see that change – but let’s not overlook the victory and significance of so many teens engaged in writing!

Key research shows personal writing about life goals makespeople happier; creative writing leads to improved academic, social, and emotional intelligence; and strong writing and communications skills were rated by 97% of executives as‘absolutely essential’ or ‘very important’ in a study about skills employers value.

As the French novelist Gustave Flaubert once said, “The art of writing is the art of discovering what you believe.”    

So, parents… don’t get discouraged if your kids are constantly on those handheld devices because there really is some valuable skill-building going on.

And kids, I’m talking to you now, and I can’t stress this enough: Don’t devalue that content you’re creating!!

Those personal communications and creative “scribblings” really do count as “real” writing. And there are plenty of us out here you can’t wait to hear what you have to say!

Read the full results of the Writing, Technology and Teensstudy here and discover what teens are writing, how parents feel about the topic, and what schools can do to feed the teen writing habit!        

AND… indulge your teen’s love of writing by checking out this year’s Teen Writer! camps, Fantastic Fiction! and Journalism & Opinion Writing!