As a mom of three children ages 16, 12 and 10, I have a rising concern of the texting that may occur between them and their friends. It seems that they become more and more disconnected from talking to people face to face. This is something that will affect them as they get older and will need to communicate with others in the real world of employment and college. My twelve year old son will even send messages to his grandparents, which they don’t mind. They are happy that he is keeping in touch with them. My opinion, I think he just needs to visit with them longer and talk face to face more. Young people rely too much on texting to communicate with people.
I believe that this will be a problem with communicating with others when they are in a situation where they have to talk. I have gone over this with my oldest son; he has been searching for a part time job and at times has a hard time keeping eye contact with someone interviewing him. He is used to relying on the phone, not face to face contact. I think we have all heard the horrible stories of people breaking up through texting, or saying terrible things. Some kids get bold and will be sexually suggestive and send a message to another person that they would never say to their face.
Research reported by The American Public Health Association finds that hyper-texters (more than 120 messages a day) are twice as likely as others to have tried alcohol, and more than three times more likely to have had sex (LaRue Huget, 2010). It does not show that every kid that texts will have problems, but it does suggest that kids that text excessively are more likely to try risky behaviors than those who text less. Of course it depends on who they are texting; their choice of friends is the most important thing (LaRue Huget, 2010).
It is not a big deal to young people; this is just how they communicate. I tell my kids there are three things to remember before sending something that might be offensive. One, they always need to put themselves in the other persons place and think about what that would feel like. Second, they need to ask themselves if this is something they would say to that persons face? If not, don’t do it. Last, is this something that you would be ashamed of if I or their grandparents read? If so, don’t do it. Nothing is worth the possible consequences of these words that can’t ever be taken back.
References
LaRue-Huget, J. (2010). Hyper-texting teens troubling behaviors. The Washington Post. Retrieved January 30, 2011, from http://voices.washingtonpost.com/checkup/2010/11/hyper-texting_teens_in_trouble.html.
Hi Brenna,
ReplyDeleteGreat post and I could not agree with you more. I too have the fear that kids today are loosing the art of face-to-face communication. If it is not texting, then it is Facebook. Not that there are anything wrong with those forms of communication, but too much of it can be detrimental. I use texting when I need to get a quick message to someone and I know they cannot talk, my daughter for example when she is at work. In addition, so much of the meaning in the conversation is lost because through texting and other electronic means, facial expressions and voice tone are not part of the conversation. And you are right; it is much easier to be bold when you are not face-to-face.
Dave