Blame The Deteriorating Level Of Literacy On The ‘Xwitx’, ‘Plz’, ‘XOXO’ Generation

The need to keep up with the Smartphone technology that only has 160 characters for a single message has caused a wave of confusion among everyone given that people have devised ways to keep their SMS in line with their intentions.

However, only a certain percentage of those who sent and receive short text messages actually understand the intended idea in the message. For instance, we have a bunch of teenagers who replace X with S and their messages go like “Hey there, plz w8 4 me in yo rum. Xoxo”

Sincerely speaking, just a few people particularly those within the Y Generation understand these messages. According to the Education permanent secretary Jacob Kaimenyi, the dismal performance displayed in the 2013 KCSE exams were somewhat directly blamable on technology especially due to the heightened dependence on electronic communication devices.

Apparently, the texting craze has taken over what was once written and as Kaimenyi pointed out, this aspect is having a devastating effect on the performance of many students. This is so because the literacy levels of many students are dropping significantly if the 2013 KCSE results are anything to go by.

With the majority of users of social media platforms such as Twitter and Facebook being the Y Generation, words like or whatever they are for that matter, ‘pls’, ‘txt’, xoxo, ‘sam1’ and kam among others are very common.

Their continued use is definitely having a seeable effect on the literacy levels of many of us within this generation commonly referred to as the ‘lost’, ‘X’, ‘Y’ and ‘Baby boomer’ generation. Given that the increase in use of the xoxo wording is being fueled by the Smartphone technology, it is agreeable to ascertain that level of literacy among some of the youths is emanating from their increased dependence of technology gadgets.

Even though it is somehow understandable that the 160 character limit is inhibiting our mode of texting, it is important to consider our modifications. There are many ways one can send a text and avoid sounding like an illiterate person and thus, we have a choice.