“Text me later!”
Oh the famous saying of every teenager known to man. Texting—it has become the most efficient way to communicate. Wasting five hours asking a friend if they want to go to the movies and using it when talking isn’t allowed and attention is required—like school. I mean “LOL NO WAY!” is much more important than the new scientific technology that could potentially lead young minds to develop a cure for a disease.
Texting, although beneficial at appropriate times, has negatives that definitely outweigh the positives. Are texting and other social networking sites making our lives easier? Or are they just complicating them? Hiding behind phones demises our communication skills. “E-mail and texts have become safe havens for escape artists,” says SusanNewman, Ph.D., social psychologist and 13-time author. “You can ignore messages, don’t have to answer questions you don’t like, and you never have to see how much you’ve hurt someone. We’re missing the valuable lessons in-the-flesh talks can teach us”
I can not count the number of times I have heard someone conversing use the phrase exactly as follows, “LOL, JK!” What is this 1984 where we cut out words from the dictionary?
Over 90% of teenagers use texting as their main method of communication according to a study in 2004 by Plymouth University. The study surveyed texters about why they chose texting over talking. A majority of texters claim to be lonely and feel they can express their feeling more effectively in a text. Perhaps this is the reason that our generation has very poor communication and interpersonal interactions. Upon observation, countless teenagers can not look into another’s eyes while speaking without looking away and can not articulate their words. Very few teens can effectively speak without mumbling, and use elevated vocabulary. In addition, the fear of talking directly to others is never addressed; rather it is shoved under the floor mat.
On a more social note, ladies, let’s have a little one-on-one talk. Have you ever met a really cute guy, gave him your number, and preceded to text him every night? Don’t get me wrong, it’s a sensational feeling when you read, “I really like you” or “You’re beautiful.” However wouldn’t it be more romantic if you could hear him speak those words to you, and let him hear your response? And what about asking out over a text? Guys have you not the courage to ask us out face to face-to –face? Quit hiding behind your phone and your computer screen and get the guts to ask us out in person—like the olden days.
Coming back to a more serious note, we use our phones every day. It comes as a shock to us when we don’t see someone’s head bent and fingers moving feverishly. We even go as far as to text while crossing Merrick Road, and worse, driving, leading to terrible accidents. Texting has crossed its boundaries—death—someone dying—can be no justification to the need to tell your best friend you can’t believe the sale at DSW while driving 80MPH on Sunrise highway. Where do we draw the line? It is a serious problem when texting while driving competes with DWI for the number one causes of death traffic relating. Is it worth it, to live the rest of your life knowing you killed someone with the push of a button, or to never again be able to?
On October 2, 2008, the engineer of a Metrolink train crashed in a head-on collision near Chatsworth, California with another train killing himself, killing 25 others, and injuring 135 according to Fox5 News. The cause was texting. In another incident two pilots from Northwest Airlines flew 150 miles past their destination in October 2009, because they were too busy on their laptops.
Ladies and gentlemen of my generation—what is going on? How can a generation of intelligent, aspiring adults, let a piece of technology get in the way of our success? Lives have been lost from a piece of technology that is supposed to be enhancing our lives—instead it is destroying it. Please become more conscious of your phone usage and let us clean up our act before we have a “mess”age we can’t erase.