Digital Playground

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Recommended: The advantages and disadvantages of texting

With today’s advancements in technology, texting has become a necessity of the American teenager for social survival. Teenagers are texting addicts sending and receiving hundreds of texts a day. In addition, text messaging can be a great way for parents and teens to stay connected, but are teens taking it too far? Many medical professionals and educators are having increasing concerns with texting contributing to distraction in school, lack of sleep, and repetitive stress injuries. While there are no long-term effects yet, many teens complain of thumb aches from the repetitive motion of texting, similar to when computer keyboards were found to cause Carpel Tunnel Syndrome. (Hafner, NY Times)Teachers complain that they cannot afford to waste time each class to police the students’ use of texting. Teens are not paying attention and grades are falling; they are cheating on tests via text and are writing using text slang on papers that are handed in. (Loftis, Techlearning) My sixteen year old son constantly has his cell phone within reach; he actually sleeps with it inside his pillow case. When I talk to him, I notice that he is not making eye contact. I attribute this to texting affecting teen’s interpersonal skills. Teens’ ability to concentrate and attention spans are becoming smaller and the constant multi tasking that they are doing is unnecessary. They are more worried about the next message than the person sitting in front of them. Elizabeth Berstein’s article “Sorry I’m Late” is about how texting enables poor behavior and lack of courtesy in reference to adults who should know better; after all we are from a generation before any of this technology existed. In one part, Bernstein refers to how a chronically ... ... middle of paper ... ...exact device being used. Also, new software, called Drive Assist, can detect when your mobile phone is in motion, like when driving, and automatically redirect all messages until you have stopped. (Loftis, Techlearning) The key is to hold them accountable for their actions; it is our job as parents to teach our kids responsibility. Teens and texting has its positives and negatives, but do the benefits outweigh the risks? When used appropriately by teens, this technology can be very beneficial. On the other hand, if your teen can’t show maturity, responsibility and exercise good judgment on a consistent basis, then no it is not worth introducing more distractions to an already complicated time in their lives. Many generations of teenagers have survived without the tools of the digital playground; this entitled generation can learn to go without them as well.

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