Texting

“Texting” as it is most commonly know is when you use the letters on the keypad to form simple messages to send to people within your contacts in your cell phone. Texting has become such a prominent form of communication that cell phones have adapted in such a way to provide easier texting ability. I know that on my phone, I have a miniature, but full, keyboard built into my cell phone. This capability makes it much easier and faster to text.

My parents always ask me why I would take so much time texting when I could get my answer via phone call so much faster. I never had a response. Texting is more of a distraction then anything. It keeps students entertained in class, it’s useful when you can’t talk out loud, and it allows users to send multiple people the same message instantaneously. Those are the main perks of texting from your cell phone.

One researched disadvantage of texting is that it is breaking correct social interaction between people. It used to be that individuals would rather call someone rather than going over to visit them, but not a phone call seems to be too inconvenient. Too many relationships are becoming reliant on texting communication alone. Other problems rely within texting as well. There have been hundreds, if not thousands, of accidents caused by texting and driving simultaneously. If texting can cause accidents and ruin social interaction, why do we do it?

I believe that texting, like other social networking, has many benefits. It is an efficient way to stay in contact with people you normally wouldn’t have time to call. I do think that texting can be rude. There is nothing that bothers me more than to have my roommate texting all the time not matter who she is with. The two of us went out to dinner the other night and I was appalled at how many times she texted while I was sitting there. I felt like she had more of a conversation with the people in her phone that me sitting across the table. I think that texting is a great invention, but needs to be controlled, because to some it is an addiction.

Chelsey