In the last decade, computer-mediated communication (CMC) has grown explosively as a means of communication. The popularity of different digital communication technologies―from text messaging (texting, SMS) and instant messaging (IMing) to Twitter, Whatsapp, and social networking sites such as Facebook and Hyves―has increased rapidly, also among children, adolescents, and young adults. Because the language used in CMC can deviate from the conventional norms of spelling, grammar, and punctuation, this has raised concerns among adults, teachers, and the media that CMC may have a detrimental effect on traditional literacy: they are afraid it may degrade youngsters? reading, writing, or spelling skills. Linguists, on the other hand, point out what they see as positive aspects of using CMC, such as increased exposure to text, increased motivation to read and write, and increased phonological and metalinguistic awareness. Previous empirical studies into the effects of CMC on literacy exhibit a mixed pattern of results. The proposed project aims to bring order into this chaos of opinions and findings by further investigating the impact of CMC on literacy in four subprojects: theoretical research, corpus research, correlational research, and experimental research. The project will scrutinize register differences between the informal ?texting system? used in CMC and the more formal ?school system? used at school, it will investigate whether interference occurs between these two language systems, and it will study the effect of factors such as youngsters? educational level and age group on this interference. Furthermore, this project will overcome various limitations of previous studies: it will include Dutch participants, it will consider not just texting and IMing but also other forms of CMC, it will reconceptualize the notion of literacy in view of the technological developments of this digital age, and it will explore the causal relationship between CMC and literacy. The Centre for Language Studies at Radboud University Nijmegen would be happy to facilitate the empirical research. The proposed PhD-candidate is enthusiastic and eager to tackle the challenges presented by this project, so that she can finally apply the knowledge she has gained in the many theoretical and applied linguistics courses she has completed during her Bachelor?s studies, her first Master?s studies, and her current Research Master?s programme―all of which makes her the right person for this project.