Over the last decade, technology has increased rapidly from basic flip phones to updated, touch screen smart phones. With technology on the come up, text messaging (the communication between two or more phones) is starting to become more prominent in everyday life. If you take a walk outside and look around, in today’s society almost every teenager that you walk past will have a cell phone in their hand and their eyes glued to the screen. Almost every single person in the 21st century is connected to a cell phone one way or another. Although it is true that text messaging can help people all over the world to keep in contact with each other, text messaging can also lead to a plethora of disadvantages in our up and coming generations. Due to …show more content…
For example, Martha and Sandra are best friends. One day Sandra performs an online act that embarrasses Martha. Martha will then try to seek revenge and begin by cyber bullying Sandra online. If the situation becomes more intense, the bullying will eventually move to text messaging which is one major way that text messaging can result in a problem. According to McQuade, “13% of teenagers reported being a victim of cyber bullying by receiving a threatening or aggressive e-mail, instant message, or text message” (McQuade, 55). Although the number may not seem like a dramatic amount, the percentage is more than enough to take initiative on the topic. Cyber bullying is only one of the small parts in the communication between teenagers and text messaging. From being able to text and forward cruel words to being able to send and forward picture messages, the interactions between a lot of teenagers start to become violent and may sometimes even lead to distractions and breaking apart established …show more content…
Roy Schwartzman says, “a text qualifies as an irrelevant distraction or outright rudeness to those who observe you discounting them to text someone else” (Schwartzman, 416). Think about it this way, you are out to eat with a significant other trying to have a romantic date and get to know each other more. Throughout the entire dinner, one person’s phone continues to go off. This is not only a distraction to the relationship and the setting, but this just goes to show how people cannot put their phones down even for a nice dinner. At this point is when the troubles with social interaction begin to come out. Teenagers and young adults are no longer able to have valuable conversations unless they are typing their fingers off, and with the amount of people you can now talk to at once, there is no doubt you will always see someone glued to their phone no matter what the occasion
People’s lives are influenced by the lack of communicating. For example, in Hamilton Spectator’s article Wired For the Future, the writer explains the negative effects caused by the lack of communicating by saying, “[i]f teens stop communicating with their friends and others face to face, they will lose the ability to navigate complex social situations and that could be devastating for them when they are faced with college and job interviews....” (Hamilton Spectator 2). In other words, that when people keep forgetting how to communicate by overly using messaging systems, it could lead to negative problems in their lives: interviews or meeting with delegates. Those are important to people’s lives, because when children are independent and working in their jobs, they have to socialize with others. Communicating is unavoidable in social life, because people still communicate even though texting and messaging are taking enormous space in our world. In addition, People text too much without talking and communicating face to face. For instance, in Jessica Mazzola’s article Nighttime Texting, she showed the surveyed data of texting by saying, “...American teens send and receive an average of 1,500 texts per month” (Mazzola 1). By all means, texting is rooted deeply in people’s lives and replaced where real conversations should be. As the article mentioned, 1,500 texts per month should be affecting people’s lives directly. Communicating face-to-face and real conversations are certainly reduced dramatically as the texting increases. Therefore, people get influenced by the erosion of
Texting however keeps people at arm’s length and prevents relationships from getting past a certain level of rapport. Text messages help people create distance between them and another person. This distance can lead to many things, like lost friendship. Friendships can be lost in text messages because of tone. I was texting my sister one day, who types in all capital letters, and finally halfway through the conversation I asked her why she was yelling at me, because that is how I was reading them, as me being yelled at. When she responded she was very confused, and told me that she didn’t realize that she had been yelling at me and was sorry. This can happen to anybody. People can confuse tone in text messages, and that can lead to one person arguing with someone who has no idea that they are in a fight. Text messages are also used by people to purposely keep others away from them, and by some it is used to hide. Alice G Walton, a science journalist with a Ph.D. in Biopsychology and Behavioral Neuroscience says, “People like to text because the message gives them the ability to hide,” (Walton). It is like the saying “a drunken mind speaks a sober heart,” When people are drunk they hide behind being it, and use alcohol as their mask, but when they are texting, it’s the phone. They are able to say what they would like, without having to actually face the person they are talking to, and
Today in the Twenty-First century we have surpassed many technological advancements and excelled far past what we would have ever thought. One of our greatest technological advancements is the thing we hold in our hands everyday, our cell phones. Sometimes we don't realize just how much our phones can distract us from our lives. As a generation glued to our phones us teenagers send an average of 3,339 texts per month. In Randy Cohen's essay, “When texting is wrong” he states how we are overcome by texting and how it damages our social and personal lives.
The issue with texting and social media is not that is makes humans totally and completely unsocial. Matter of fact, in most cases it comes down to people being too “social.” Technology is purposely created nowadays to allow users to communicate with one another, especially adolescents. There has been vast amounts of research done on this topic but a specific one to mention was done by an assistant professor in the Department of Communication and Culture in the College of Arts and Sciences at Indiana University Bloomington. The professor, Ilana Gershon, conducted research about technology and communication with students at the college campus. Gershon stated in her book, The Breakup 2.0, that, “To think of technology as something that is used in social int...
In our world there are many forms of communication and these devices are beginning to take a toll on our younger generations. In Jeffery Kluger’s article,” We Never Talk Anymore: The Problem with Text Messaging,” the idea that younger generations are becoming socially inept due to technology is discussed. As these younger generations consume texting as a main form of communication other important social skills deteriate.
Teens use technological devices as weapons through the use of social networking websites, text messaging and other ways. Teenager use these social networking websites and text messaging to make fun of one another, call each other names and threaten one another all to the point where the victim feels worthless and ends up with psychological problems or in the worst scenario, committing suicide. The most famous website that teenagers use these days for cyberbullying is Facebook; they login to their account and write a status about their victim and tag their victim on the status or ask a friend who has the victim as a friend to tag him or her in a comment below the status. Teenagers also use chat rooms to post pictures of their victim and publicly humiliate and make fun of their victims and others usually join in adding to it. I decided to write about cyber bullying because it has been happening a lot lately and as a mother I am really concerned about it, so I would like to know what to do in case my children were to go through a situation like that. I took advantage that it’s a good topic for a research essay...
According to a new research, kids and teens who are on their phone at least three hours a day are most likely to be affected by cyberbullying (Wahowaik 4). Teens can use cell phones to send humiliating texts, forward pictures, and threaten someone. Cyberbullying can also be more damaging than face to face because you can send embarrassing pictures that can reach hundreds of people in a short amount of time (Mooney 43). Also, it can follow teens unless they get rid of their phone because someone can send you something at any time of the day. Cell phones allow a person to harass or bully another person without ever having to leave the house or having to face the victim, they also allow embarrassing pictures to be taken without the victim knowing. It is quick access to a camera and the internet, which is all you need to cyberbully. Text messages and social media are harder for the victim to stand up for themselves. Cyberbullying can also happen because texts and messages can be anonymous. On social media, it allows people to have a fake profile, making it easier for the bully to get away with it (Szumski 69), there is also something called "catfishing". Catfishing is when someone makes a fake profile to flirt or meet other people without them knowing it 's not actually a different person. Catfishing occurs so often that
Texting has affected face to face relationships in a way that we can no longer converse in person with the people close to us. We find it much easier to send someone a text message than to speak to them in person. Through text messages we are able to make the person believe we feel a certain way, when in fact we could be feeling the exact opposite. By doing so, there would be no way of knowing how one truly feels since the person is not there to see into their emotions by vocal and facial expressions. This causes habitual texters to limit their ability to form future relationships, since they do not get to practice the art of interpreting nonverbal visual cues. It might be easier to send someone a message when one is hurting, but in reality one is only isolating oneself from the people who want to help. This could eventually bring someone to their end.
How often do we text? Text messaging is a very useful way to communicate; but, there are occasions where texting is unnecessary, for example in meetings, watching movies, interacting with family, and even in the shower. However, while texting can be overused, it can also help us get to know one another in easier and faster ways. In Natalie Y. Moore’s article “The Rule of Thumbs: Love in the Age of Texting," she explains how the use of texting it is slowly destroying the love between two people (Moore, 1). Although, some people might agree with Moore points of view, when she argues that texting is killing romance and it should be reserved for some notifications, such as “I’m running late;” others might disagree with this idea
The way people communicate has significantly changed over the years due to technological advances. When it comes to reaching people anywhere and everywhere in the world in the quickest amount of time, nothing beats text messaging. Because of these advances in communication nothing in recent history has changed or form of writing more than texting has. According to the Pew Research “The vast majority of Americans – 95% – now own a cellphone of some kind”. As shown by these statistics texting is a more convenient way of writing to one another. Furthermore, upon a person having a cell phone on them the response time is instant, most of the time. This is another reason why texting has become the preferred method of communication, causing the
Step onto any college campus and take a look around. You will find clumps of students standing around in circles, phones in hand, typing away. What is it they are doing? Texting. Ever since the first text message was sent in 1993, the use of text messaging as a means of communication has spread like wild fire, especially amongst the adolescent generation. And with this new form of communication a new language has appeared; text-speak, the shortening of common words into abbreviations and acronyms (Drouin 49). While texting and the text-speak language seem to have been welcomed by many, what affect is this new technology having on the way we communicate? Is it possible that texting is negatively affecting our ability to use formal written communication, or is this idea just a myth perpetuated by negative media attention? And what changes has texting brought to the way we communicate person-to person? Are these changes positive, negative, or perhaps a mixture of both?
This sort of phenomenon makes major headlines regularly in recent times and effects a clear majority of today’s youth. State and local lawmakers have taken steps to prevent this type of bullying by making illegal under several criminal law codes. Michele Hamm, a researcher in pediatrics explained, “There were consistent associations between exposure to cyberbullying and increased likelihood of depression.” Cyberbullying became widespread among students with the rapid growth in use of cellular devices and the Internet. With this kind of technology bullies have the ability to send harmful messages to their recipients at any given time. This type of bullying is the hardest to control because it involves students but often happens off school grounds. However, because the evidence is material, students and parents could bring this evidence to the school and local police departments if a situation were to happen. Parents should be mindful of their child’s use of the internet and electronic messaging, cyberbullying usually takes place in a medium in which adults are seldom present (Mason, 2008). Also, instead of sending direct messages to other students, bullies use platforms such as social media and anonymous blogs to post harmful things for others to see. Educators must understand the significance of social media use to their students, especially
Text messaging is damaging our literacy and communication skills as a society. Calling someone on the phone or writing them a letter is rapidly becoming a thing of the past. There is a new language that is being learned and not taught across the globe. It is the language of Textese, and it has quickly consumed the lives of millions across the world. There will always be the protector of language arts. These are the shrinking number of people everyone knows, that will continue to handwrite letters and sign them with proper English and etiquette. It may be as simple as picking up the phone and calling a friend or relative. It may be even simpler than that, in that people put forth an effort to talk to the person sitting next to or across from you and engage them in a conversation. Texting and textisms have become so common and widespread that using proper English, correct spelling, and full sentences is also becoming a thing of the past. People that constantly use text and instant messaging may have difficulty with literacy and expressing themselves in writing form. The research shows that text messaging has deteriorated how we communicate and express ourselves because textisms have become an easier and quicker form of communication that has affected literacy in children and adults.
It’s impossible to walk around the streets without seeing someone texting. The World Bank says, “Three quarters of people on earth have access to a mobile phone.” Cell phones are a part of our everyday lives. Our society is obsessed with communication. Technology has some positives and negatives.
The online bully’s goal is to make their target feel weak; these online bullies can be referred to as a cyber bully. Cyber bullying is the exercise of using technology to embarrass, threaten, harass, or target another person; according to its definition it occurs among young people (New, 4). It is usually performed by a child’s peers and surprisingly occurs early as the second grade (Jacobs 1). Cyber bullying can even be unintentional, especially through the use of emails, IMs, and text messages because the tone of the sender may be hard to depict. However, recurring emails, online posts, and texts are hardly ever unintentional (124). As the number of youths increase that have the availability to technology, cyber bullying is likely to continue to rise and continue to take its toll on youth. Due to its excessive effect that it has on children today, Cyber bullying should be taken more seriously.