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Monday’s New York Times included an article on the purported dangers of texting (or text-message-sending, for you grumpy older folks). Entitled Texting May Be Taking a Toll, the article strikes me as bizarrely alarmist, and recalls social panics of my youth (see The Panic Over Dungeons & Dragons (in 1985)). Perhaps it’s my own wasted youth talking, but this article is downright silly. Here are some key clips:
[Texting] is beginning to worry physicians and psychologists, who say it is leading to anxiety, distraction in school, falling grades, repetitive stress injury and sleep deprivation.
Texting may also be taking a toll on teenagers’ thumbs. Annie Wagner, 15, a ninth-grade honor student in Bethesda, Md., used to text on her tiny LG phone as fast as she typed on a regular keyboard. A few months ago, she noticed a painful cramping in her thumbs.
… “Based on our experiences with computer users, we know intensive repetitive use of the upper extremities can lead to musculoskeletal disorders, so we have some reason to be concerned that too much texting could lead to temporary or permanent damage to the thumbs.”
Still, some parents are starting to take measures. Greg Hardesty, a reporter in Lake Forest, Calif., said that late last year his 13-year-old daughter, Reina, racked up 14,528 texts in one month. She would keep the phone on after going to bed, switching it to vibrate and waiting for it to light up and signal an incoming message.
Mr. Hardesty wrote a column about Reina’s texting in his newspaper, The Orange County Register, and in the flurry of attention that followed, her volume soared to about 24,000 messages. Finally, when her grades fell precipitously, her parents confiscated the phone.
My Take on Texting
OMG, teenagers are overdoing something?! They’re getting cramped thumbs from too much technological twiddling? Say it ain’t so! (We used to call this Nintendo Thumb back in the day.) None of this is new: teenagers overdo everything — that’s part of the point of growing up. The particular technology is irrelevant; teens will discover and overuse (even abuse) whatever technology, game, or other distraction is available. Teens eventually learn to moderate their own behavior, and most come through it without impaired thumbs.
In the same way grownups are stunned by statistics about teen texting today (tens of thousands of texts per month! Egad!), grownups have always been stunned by what teenagers are doing “these days.” When I was a kid, the main panic was over video games. Statistics about how many hours kids spent planted in front of video games shocked parents, and made them wonder how a kid could possibly grow up without going outside to play stickball. Prior to video games I’m sure parents couldn’t fathom how kids could grow up with so much television, or loud rock music, or wild “dance parties,” and so on.
Read the Times article and let me know what you think. Is there something special about texting that makes it particularly worrisome? Do you have personal experience with this issue, either as a teen or parent? Share your thoughts in the comments.
(Photo courtesy of Flickr user Nate Steiner, used under Creative Commons license.)
Comments (37)
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I agree with the article, this is another overblown moral panic about “kids today”.
I agree that too much texting can be bad in the same way that too much phone, tv, internet, video games, junk food, shopping, etc etc can be bad. But if parents are really worried about kids texting too much there’s a simple answer: take away the phone! Otherwise don’t sit idly by and be shocked when they rack up big numbers of texts.
posted by Steve on 5-26-2009 at 3:34 pm
Is there something special about texting that is worrisome?
1. the cost!
2. the fact that they write everything in shorthand completely ignoring grammar and spelling.
But you’re right….if my son wasn’t texting, he’d still be addicted to video games.
posted by Zane on 5-26-2009 at 3:44 pm
I teach Sunday School for seventh grade boys. I have no problem with texting itself, but can you not turn your phone off for church and school? I have had to confiscate more phones than I can count (until I made the parents start asking for phones back. I don’t see as many phones in my class now.)
But seriously, it is Sunday morning, you are in seventh grade! If your friends are not at church they are still asleep! Put the phone away!
posted by Witty Nickname on 5-26-2009 at 3:53 pm
I agree with Steve — take away the phone if you are concerned about your child texting too much. What percentage of these teens are paying for their own phones and text plans?
I’ve seen kids in our clinic with musculoskeletal complaints from over-texting (and hand numbness from prolonged hand-held video game usage, yes, really). You should see their faces when they are told the simple and inexpensive way to recover from their pain. Just wait, someone will come out with some sort of splint like they give to patients with carpel tunnel — and people will expect their insurance company to pay for it.
posted by melissa on 5-26-2009 at 3:54 pm
I have an idea to solve this problem…take the phones away from the teens, only give them the phones when they really need them, for emergencies. See – problem solved…
posted by gussie on 5-26-2009 at 4:08 pm
I agree that texting will not ruin a kid but it isn’t helping either. Atleast you have to use your brain a bit while playing video games. Some are actually educational. There is no redeeming value with text messaging but I believe video games, loud music and even television have some redeeming values. There is your difference.
posted by Matt on 5-26-2009 at 4:14 pm
@Matt — but texting is communication, so its content is controlled by the user. Who are we to say that it has no redeeming value? What if the content of the communication is important and/or useful?
posted by Chris Higgins on 5-26-2009 at 4:20 pm
This all reminds me of a quote by the Greek poet, Hesiod. I always remember it when I hear adults quoting how “different” or “problematic” future generations are…
“I see no hope for the future of our people if they are dependent on the frivolous youth of today, for certainly all youth are reckless beyond words. When I was a boy, we were taught to be discrete and respectful of elders, but the present youth are exceedingly wise and impatient of restraint.”
Funny how even adults in the 8th Century BCE thought the world was coming to an end because of the youth. Maybe we just forget how bad we were growing up…
posted by Q on 5-26-2009 at 4:25 pm
I ben txtin my hol lif N I see no prob wit it. IRL ppl R jus stoopd N hav no ida wat ther tlkin bout. OMGROFLLOL!
posted by MHat on 5-26-2009 at 4:25 pm
Believe it or not it costs nothing (zero)for the cell phone companies to send text messages. They do it over a band used to keep the system running. Text is actually very small data compared to the audio in cell phone calls.
They have to have this band for the cell system to work, and it doesn’t tax the system in anyway to send text messages over it too.
Amazing how people can have bills in the thousands for texting and it costs nothing for the cell companies to provide texting.
posted by Morris on 5-26-2009 at 4:26 pm
I agree here too. It does really go back to parents not setting limits for their kids – starting at an early age.
What bothers me the most is when -adults- can’t put their phones down while driving, walking through parking lots, etc.
Maybe the parents should hang up and start being parents… And stop using technology as the scapegoat.
posted by Nerak on 5-26-2009 at 4:29 pm
As a teacher, students constantly messing with their phones when they think I can’t see them. If the parents are so concerned about the texting, then take the phone away. At my school we have a no phone policy but to enforce it I would policing phones 95% of the time that the students are in my classroom. I do let the students know that I am aware of what they are doing and after making comments a couple of times the students generally don’t pull out their phone in my class anymore.
posted by Jenny on 5-26-2009 at 4:30 pm
I’m a professor of youth culture at Bowling Green State University and one of my doctoral students is doing her dissertation on how texting is changing the lives and psychological development of teenagers. I am convinced that many of the normal rituals of growing up are being irrevocably changed by the fact that text messaging is a ubiquitous part of young people’s lives. I agree with the New York Times article’s emphasis on the distracting quality of this technology, and I suspect that today’s youth are being trained into a habit of distraction that will haunt them into the future. Go to any event or activity that used to engross kids–from watching a movie to participating in all the formal and informal rites of passage of growing up–and you see them compulsively texting. Banning cell phones in class does no good–they refuse to give them up, or hide them. I am truly worried, and I typically laugh at the media’s moral panics!
Montana Miller, Ph.D.
posted by Montana Miller on 5-26-2009 at 4:44 pm
From Zane:
“. the fact that they write everything in shorthand completely ignoring grammar and spelling.”
I’m a high school physics teacher, and I have had scientific research papers- from honors students- turned in with “ur” and “ne.”
posted by Samantha on 5-26-2009 at 5:12 pm
Americans already have problems learning to spell and to use proper grammar. This is not helping.
posted by the creature on 5-26-2009 at 5:22 pm
Maybe texting isn’t ruining our kids use of the English language. Lots of people seem to have trouble with word usage. For example the teacher, “As a teacher, students constantly messing with their phones when they think I can’t see them.” Fragment, consider revising. You need a verb in there somewhere. Same with “but to enforce it I would policing phones 95% of the time that the students are in my classroom. ” Missing more verbs there.
posted by Captain Crunch on 5-26-2009 at 5:23 pm
I’d have to agree with Dr. Miller. While certainly a convenient form of communication, texting is erosive to all other forms of communication. As a college student who doesn’t often carry a phone, I’m more than a little dismayed at all the conversations that aren’t happening face to face. Grammar and spelling are laughable, and not just in my normal smug sort of way, haha. Let’s not get it twisted – people
aren’t turning off their phones or ignoring them when they should. They’re just putting them out of sight – barely! – from those they might offend. More than a little obnoxious.
posted by Darling Nikki on 5-26-2009 at 5:31 pm
Meh. I’ve had brilliant, proper conversations with teens who use text shorthand when talking with their friends. Don’t sell people short by suggesting texting is going to destroy spelling and grammar. Laziness is the culprit there. Some of the text shorthand is actually quite clever (and much more phonetic than English.)
I’m much more concerned about the general level of rudeness in our society, including using cellphones when one shouldn’t be. But you can’t really scapegoat the kids here, most of the rudeness I encounter in my daily life is from other adults: on the road, at childrens’ sports (and professional sports!), and on websites frequented by adults (unless teenagers have become interested in the newspapers’ websites and in making hate-filled comments on every article posted.)
I’m really not worried about kids and their texting habits. It’s the adults who worry me.
posted by Karen on 5-26-2009 at 6:04 pm
I’m a high school English teacher, and I can attest to two things: thanks to cell phones, 1) I can’t keep my students hands out of their hoodie pockets and on their desk so they can take notes or complete assignments, and 2) they pay absolutely no attention to anything else. And yes, their use of standard English has gone from occasional to never. I used to sarcastically refer to their phones as their life preservers but now I call them their oxygen. Just wait til these kids are running the country!
posted by Sandi on 5-26-2009 at 7:52 pm
I’m 18 and I don’t text much but I try to do it when I don’t want to chat on a phone. The times should have written more about how the real danger is texting and driving which has gotten even more dangerous with touch screen phones because there are no physical buttons.
posted by Rachel* on 5-26-2009 at 8:34 pm
As a teenager who texts, I don’t see a problem. I mean, yeah, some people turn in papers saying “Lol Socrates wuz dummmm” or whatever, but how is that any different from someone turning in a paper saying “Sokrates was an ideeot?” which, you know, can happen if no one teaches them how to spell. There are lots of teachers complaining about how students never pay attention in class. Well, no, I don’t pay attention in all of my classes. I have never texted in my most interesting classes because they are INTERESTING. When I’m not paying attention, it’s usually because I’m talking to someone next to me, not because I’m addicted to my phone. Every adult in every time period has panicked about how the youth is going to ruin the world. I mean, the adults here were probably addicted to MTV when it first came on and their parents were worried about “oh my what’s going to happen to our future?” It just happens. It always has, it always will. Teenagers aren’t ever going to rule the world. People who were once teenagers will.
posted by Layla on 5-26-2009 at 9:20 pm
I am a teacher in a low-performing school. I confiscate cell phones, iPods, and iPod Touches EVERY day, from every class period.
If a student is a repeat offender, I will make his/her parent stop by to pick up the phone. I have taken away a cell phone in first period and had a parent at the school by second period to pick it up and return it to his/her child. How am I supposed to enforce the school rules without the support of parents? “Oh, Johnnie needs his cell phone at school for safety purposes” or “Johnnie is passing your class anyway, so I’m sure he’s still paying attention”
Translation: “My child controls our relationship”.
This subject really irks me, as if you can’t tell. These low-performing students have all the resources and incentives to be successful, but are failing due to LAZINESS and LACK OF DISCIPLINE.
posted by Teacher on 5-26-2009 at 9:41 pm
As a teen I know a lot of people text constantly. My grandpa called it, “where you send letters to people on their phone machines”. Personally, I use less than 20 texts a month, but I know I’m in the minority.
I don’t see a lot of people forgetting grammar or spelling because of texting. Really? REALLY? I think we encounter a lot more of proper English than improper.
I do pay for my own bill, but I think I’m the only one of my friends who does.
Texting is NOT an epidemic, it’s just another thing that keeps us in constant contact with each other. Just like pagers, and Blackberry’s, and email, and cell phones. I actually resisted getting a cell for years because I didn’t want to be that easily accessible. I don’t think it’s too much of a problem, except when it infringes on simple manners and courtesy.
posted by Kat on 5-26-2009 at 11:01 pm
@Karen- I commute to Philadelphia every day, and some of the adults on the train drive me NUTS with their phones. The worst was one woman who was playing a video, it sounded like from a pro baseball game. The train was crowded to the point where people were standing in the aisles, and the phone’s volume had to have been on high. Multiple people yelled at her to turn it down, and she ignored everyone. Finally I asked her to turn it down, and she said “Oh, I can’t turn down the volume. It’ll only be another minute.” Honestly.
posted by Kate on 5-26-2009 at 11:09 pm
People think that a lot of these shorthand abbreviations are new to texting or online chatting – but most of them back to the days of the teletype. Terms like CUL and ROFL were being sent on KSR-35’s before these kids’ parents were born.
posted by PartiallyDeflected on 5-27-2009 at 1:05 am
I don’t mind texting as a form of communication but it drives me nuts how most people don’t consider cell phone use to be rude, especially during times like school and meals. If you are gonna invite me out to eat, I assume it is because you want to talk with me, not people on your phone.
Then again as a kid I do remember reading books at the dinner table which I am sure drove my parents nuts. I guess it kinda is a “kids will be kids” thing but it drives me up the wall when adults do it.
posted by Doug on 5-27-2009 at 3:57 am
I fail to see why people completely ignore the benefits texting has in regards to communication and self expression. If I see something cool, I can take a picture of it and text it to my friends. If I know a friend is busy at work, but want to let them know there is a party later, I can text them so they will know before they get out. Texting also allows alot of colleges to notify students of emergencies instanteously. Texting is an important evolution in communication.
posted by Mike on 5-27-2009 at 8:43 am
I don’t think there’s anything inherently evil about texting, and I agree that teenagers are liable to do most things in excess, but I’m with all the rest of the teachers complaining about kids texting all the way through their classes. Besides being a massive distraction, kids texting during school also opens up a really huge temptation to cheat on tests much more easily than they could have before.
I think cell phone etiquette is also a huge problem–not for students exclusively, but for parents as well. Besides all the texting and driving/walking that I see, the parents at our school don’t do a very good job of following up on our cell phone rules.
Our school requires all confiscated cell phones to be picked up by a parent, and this has caused tons of arguments and problems with parents who argue that their kid “needs” the cell phone at school. I took a cell phone from a girl near the end of the school day once and stopped to use the restroom as I walked the phone to the office. The parent was there and complaining before I could even get the thing turned in.
Maybe we should make cell phone etiquette a required class?
posted by Fruppi on 5-27-2009 at 11:23 am
I’m a teen who texts a lot and my grades, grammar, social life, and health are not affected in any way. We over do everything like this article says. If you want to get mad at someone, get mad at grownups who can’t leave their blackberries alone for five seconds. They’re worse than us!
posted by Anna on 5-27-2009 at 1:02 pm
“I’d have to agree with Dr. Miller. While certainly a convenient form of communication, texting is erosive to all other forms of communication. As a college student who doesn’t often carry a phone, I’m more than a little dismayed at all the conversations that aren’t happening face to face.”
Um, hate to break it to you, but you should probably lay the blame with the whole “loss of face to face contact” thing on Mr. Alexander Graham Bell. People have been streamlining communication for thousands of years and it hasn’t eroded any other forms of communication. People still talk to eachother when they can/need to do so.
Would you be the squaw that cried because this new fangled smoke signaling was keeping people from riding across the valley to see their fellow tribesmen? Would you decry the invention of written language because it begins the end of verbal histories?
For informative purposes, face to face contact just isn’t necessary 99% of the time and a fair portion of the time, getting face to face with someone just isn’t possible. I do business with people in NM from an office in Houston, TX. I can’t get face time with them, but does it matter? No.
As far as the fall of the english language through the use of internet shorthand, pots and kettles come to mind… if you are going to criticize others’ grammar, you better be spot on with yours.
Everyone needs to take a chill pill and parent your kids if you have them.
Teachers, confiscate the cell phones, but don’t call the parents right away, unless you are in some way legally obligated the kids can do without their phones for a day. If there is an emergency, parents can still call the school like they did in the olden days. If there are repeat offenders, send them to the office for disrupting your class. It isn’t ok to text during class. It is disrespectful to the teachers.
recaptcha: that doodads
posted by Troy H. on 5-27-2009 at 1:23 pm
I’m completely mystified by the need to have texting functionality on a device used for voice communication, but then I haven’t been a teenager for decades.
posted by Li on 5-27-2009 at 2:49 pm
In regards to texting during Sunday School-
They’re texting each other, most likely.
I’m a college freshman, and texting is a big part of my life. It costs less for me to text than to call, so that’s how I make all my plans. My dad recently got texting, so now we talk regularly, which is nice, since calling is long distance.
I try to use proper grammar in my texts, and I have friends who do too. Back in the 6th grade before we were old enough to have cell phones, everyone would write notes to each other using short hand. It’s not just texting that’s creating improper grammar.
Sure, people misuse texting… not just teenagers. But what don’t people misuse? Should we ban water bottles because some people turn them into bongs? Should we ban potato chips because some people are fat.
And I completely agree with Layla. I don’t generally text in class, but I doodle. If I have my laptop I’m usually on Mental Floss (learning more than I would from my professors.) It’s not like kids were paying attention in class in the first place. Texting is just used as a scapegoat. Teachers can’t see the bigger picture– they’re boring. And there’s nothing wrong with that. The subjects teachers are forced to teach are kind of hard not to be boring, especially the ways school boards want them taught. But in classes I’ve been in that have really compelling teachers I rarely see anyone text. Those teachers are the ones who care more about their students and teaching them than they do about whether or not they’re texting. If a student isn’t paying attention, it’s his or her grade that’s being hurt, and his or her problem.
posted by Erika on 5-27-2009 at 4:15 pm
@ Troy – True, spot on grammar isn’t something I’d claim. But I’d also say less practice in it will inevitably lead to less mastery of it.
Your squaw analogy is terrible. And offensive.
Of course face-to-face communication isn’t always warranted. I wouldn’t suggest otherwise. I, too, telecommute. And I suppose that some blame can be assigned to telephones, which is what texting is an extension of, right? At any rate, pleasantries and chit-chat have routinely gone the wayside in public. Maybe I could be the culprit, but I’ve always felt weird interrupting people, especially strangers, when they’re texting or on the phone in public places (e.g. bus, coffee house, etc.)And it really seems that people are always texting or on their phone. Maybe I’m more sensitive to it because I don’t have a phone to fill up all that empty time? Either way, it’s fine, I don’t need a conversation with every person I pass, but I wonder if this doesn’t add a sense of apathy to our everyday social interactions?
And I think that streamlining communication ISN’T always the best thing. Convenient and at times necessary, absolutely, but should it be encroaching on our everyday interactions?
The outcry around texting certainly has all the ingredients of a moral panic, to be sure. I like what Layla said: “Teenagers aren’t ever going to rule the world. People who were once teenagers will.” I also am more than amused with all the gadgetry and outlets for expression. But I think that to completely dismiss the notion that there aren’t any repercussions would be reckless.
posted by Darling Nikki on 5-27-2009 at 6:53 pm
I am a high school English teacher and I see the direct result of texting in my classroom every single day. The brain will automatically put forth what it is exposed to majority of the time, and these days, it is text language. Teenagers no longer know how to spell or write sentences, and they do not care to learn how, because it takes too long to worry about correct grammar, spelling, and punctuation when text messaging. I do have to spend MUCH more time in the classroom teaching the basics that should have been established many years ago, which leaves less time for reading, which is also something that no one does anymore, unless it is on the screen of a telephone. Also, many of my students will text in their pockets while in class and glance at the replies when I’m not looking. I have had three fights in my room that were seemingly unprovoked, only to find out they were throwing text message insults back and forth with each other and other students in the school. Also, cheating has become impossible to monitor due to students texting all the answers.
This is a huge problem and it doesn’t work to ban phones at school because our school has already established that rule.
posted by Jessica on 5-30-2009 at 8:54 am
It drives me crazy how rude students are to teachers they don’t like. It seems like if teachers aren’t doing enough to keep the precious jewels entertained, the students have the right to do whatever they want. Which involves being incredibly disruptive and blatantly disrespectful. I’ve been in my fair share of boring classes, but I’ve had the decency to be quiet about it. Which is more than I can say for the texting apologists above me. Sheesh.
posted by Lauren on 5-30-2009 at 11:01 am
I think it’s unfair to generalize that “teenagers can’t write” and “teenagers” don’t read when there have already been several examples to the contrary (myself included) in this very conversation.
I have never texted in class, but I agree with those who said that texting is used as a scapegoat: if the students weren’t texting, they’d be passing notes or talking. Of course it’s rude and disruptive, but the cell phones can’t be blamed for that.
I like texting for many reasons. Several of my friends have jobs this summer in offices doing fairly mindless tasks, and while they certainly couldn’t talk on the phone, they can text. When trying to make plans with a large group, it’s easier to text “meet at five” to six people then to call all of those people up individually to tell them one sentence. I see texting as a means to facilitate communication and interaction, not to replace it.
posted by Hailey on 5-30-2009 at 4:31 pm
My issue with texting is that it tends to infiltrate every aspect of a person’s life. I know people (and not just teenagers), who can’t carry on a face-to-face conversation without stopping every minute or so to read and reply to a text. Technologies like video games and TV, while they still have the same potential for overuse, are not nearly as portable and pervasive.
posted by Kelsey on 5-30-2009 at 6:37 pm