Column: Teenagers excessively use texting as form of communication

Opinion — By admin on February 24, 2010 2:44 pm

By Daniel Brount, Focus Editor

Whether sneaking a text in the middle of class or hiding their cell phones under the lunch table, teenagers constantly allow texting to act as a major factor in their everyday communication.

Although beneficial or simple in many instances such as asking a question on homework or asking a person to hang out, texting cannot substitute for face-to-face communication.

When surveying 122 students, 72 percent of females and 63 percent of males said that they had fought over texts.

Before this survey, I thought the amount of time spent texting was ridiculous. The real issue of texting does not involve the amount of time that people spend doing it, but rather the lack of actual contact. With a text, people have no idea what the other person’s emotions are, whether they are joking around, are being sarcastic or if they are really insulting the other.

That lack of understanding acts as a trigger to start the arguments that wouldn’t happen if you heard the sarcasm or humor in the opposing person’s voice.

By leaving those arguments for face-to-face conversation, the argument could be kept to a minimum or not happen at all.

Many teenagers feel like they need texting. Needing it for communication is no problem, that is, until it becomes the source of communication for all things. Leave the simple conversations to text. Most everything else should stay as it was before texting: face-to-face.

Share on Facebook

No related posts.

Related posts brought to you by Yet Another Related Posts Plugin.

Tags: communication, teenagers, teens, text, Wheeling High School, whs