Communication in our society has become instantaneous. Information
exchange happens with almost no time spent at all. The most personal way to communicate so quickly has been through text messages.
Texting is a breakthrough communication
that only continues to grow. The U.S. Mobile Content Market
estimated there are 68.7 million text message users who send over 75 billion text messages every month, according to www.cellsigns.com.
What brings on the desire for people in the U.S. to contact other mobile
users billions of times per month, with no actual face-to-face communication
occurring? One reason for people texting so much may simply be for entertainment purposes. Sending pictures and videos, receive ring tones, replying to a TV ad, or hey, voting for our next American Idol could fit into that category as well. Most people, though, send text messages for social interaction. One may want or need to contact coworkers, friends, family, or even teachers. Texting allows anybody anywhere to quickly contact someone else wherever they may be.
Although text messaging has proved to be an amazing communication
tool, it definitely has its controversial
issues. Most teachers in all schools have enforced strict rules on classroom
cell phone usage for students who can’t seem to keep their thumbs on their books and not their phones.
As of January 1, 2009, drivers are not allowed to text message while behind the wheel of a car. One of the biggest issues that lead to this decision happened on September 12, 2008 near Los Angeles, CA. Metrolink train engineer Robert Sanchez was too busy typing a text message to stop his train at a signal. As a result, the train plowed into a Union Pacific freight train, killing 25 people, including Sanchez.
This, along with other vehicle collision stories, made it obvious that texting was a serious distraction.
Text messaging is not only a problem while operating a vehicle or machinery. It can be distracting while you’re simply just walking. “I’ve run into everything you can think of,” says Davina Juarez, a student here at FCC. Other students as well admitted to running into poles, other people, planters, or even tripping over a crack in the sidewalk because they are too involved with what they are texting. ER doctors across the U.S. have treated text message users for injuries
spanning from cuts and bruises to broken bones and sprains.
In terms of dating or making new friends, however, texting is said to be more of an icebreaker than a bone-breaker. “If you don’t know the person, it’s easier to text them first,” says FCC student Dustin Anderton when asked if he was more likely to call or text someone new after receiving
their phone number. Anderton also noted that after becoming involved with texting, he gained a noticeable amount of more friends.
But does a full list of contacts
equal having a large amount of friends? It’s possible,
but more than likely, the majority of the list is merely “texting buddies”. Some students admitted that if not for text messages, they probably wouldn’t communicate at all with the majority of people they know or have listed in their phonebook.
Other students on campus said text messaging allows them to be more confident and comfortable with a conversation or subject than they would if they were to speak over the phone or in person. Most also agreed that no matter what the circumstances of needing to communicate, they would most always prefer to text over calling somebody. These answers were not surprising. According to Neilson Mobile, a typical mobile user sends and receives more text messages
a month than they do phone calls.
FCC student Robert Stevenson says he is able to be bolder through a text as opposed to face-to-face. However,
Stevenson also stated that his excessive texting has actually made him shyer. This was the case for other students as well.
Instances like this prove that people are missing out on many factors such as eye contact, body language, and tone of voice, that go into effectively communicating with another person. People break up with boyfriends or girlfriends, become intimate, talk about sex, have deep and lengthy conversations,
and even verbally abuse or harass other people, all over text messages.
When you text someone, not only can you not undo what you have already written, but you overlook the nonverbal communication that can prove, in some instances, to say much more than what is actually being verbalized
or typed. Sending an emoticon smiley or sad face to someone via text, for instance, is nothing compared to actually
seeing someone smile or frown.
Not only are people missing out on these non-verbal communications, but also it’s becoming apparent that the ability to perform them is diminishing.
Some students agree that texting has in fact begun to ruin the manner in which people in our society are communicating.
“It’s ruined it for sure,” says Jared Johns, “I don’t have to rely on texting to talk to somebody.”
It’s obvious that we all need to take a step back and realize how little real communication we are actually allowing ourselves, and how vastly we are detaching
and distracting ourselves from the real world. Of course, it’s always fun to get a chain message, such as a joke or funny story that can make you LOL or exclaim OMG. Or maybe it’s necessary
to shoot a quick message to a parent or coworker. Under certain circumstances,
text messaging has proved to be a great tool for communicating quickly and effectively.
However, if we don’t realize the real life communication skills we’re neglecting ourselves of, and allow text messaging to become our sole means of communication, we may end up in a society where subjects as immense as marriage proposals or deaths in the family will be communicated with simple, impersonal text message.
And that’s just terrible.