The Negative Effects of Text Messaging
Put the Phone in Your Pocket
The most important negative to text messaging in my opinion is a safety issue. Many states have made talking on a cell phone without a the use of a head set while driving a phone illegal. The fine can be hefty, as it should be. My own son had two pretty bad car accidents due to talking on the phone while driving. In one he escaped unharmed but the car was totally destroyed and he was extremely lucky. To be honest, I believe that text messaging while driving a car is even more dangerous than talking on the cell phone. If you think about how often a text messenger looks at his or her phone during the exchanges back in forth, I think you'll see my point about the danger. We all know that taking your eyes off the road is probably the most dangerous thing you can do while driving a car.
Another negative to text messaging is that it's so impersonal. Unfortunately, some people carry it to such an extreme that it takes the place of other contact such as the phone or in- person conversation. I personally know people who have so totally misunderstood the messages they have received that they have gotten lost, arrived at the wrong time, been angry unnecessarily, and even broken up over text messages. The problem seems to be that you can't see the face of the person who is text messaging you nor can you hear the tone in their voice.
Teenagers will text message during class or try to get away with it because they set their phone on silent or vibrate and believe the teacher won't detect what is going on. What is going on anyway? That's hard to say but a good guess would be it isn't good. First of all, they aren't paying attention in class or doing classwork. Secondly, they could be cheating. Thirdly, they could be simply making social plans but for certain they are being rude to the teacher.
Being rude? You know how annoying it is to be out to dinner with someone who takes every cell phone call they receive during dinner? Text messaging isn't anymore polite in my opinion. The point is, it still requires a lack of attention to what is going on around you, specifically in this case the conversation you are having with your date, your boss, your spouse or child.
There is no excuse for rude social behavior. Text messaging has become so rampant that it has become another negative thing to do while in a social or business situation.
I'm not suggesting to never text message. I am suggesting that it isn't necessary to text constantly and in situations that are dangerous, rude or risky. Put the phone in your pocket and keep it there once in a while. You'll not only live, you will enjoy the company of others more often.
Published by Louisa Burgess
Life long NYer. Expressing myself through the written word has been my lifelong hobby and vocation. Somehow I managed to raise two sons and actually worked for a living! Recently moved to Texas!Louisa Burges... View profile
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42 Comments
Post a Commenti think cellphones are really bad,
becuase i have crashed my moms
car when i was tetxinq one of my friends.VERY DANGEROUS!
non sense!
I am doing a communications research report on why texting negatively effects communication. Your information and ideas have helped me greatly to develop my base arguments. I am 18 and an avid texter, but I also agree that texting has replaced face to face communication greatly. Many arguments I have with my boyfriend are over text messages which is a shame because it is like hiding behind a veil. There are many sides to the debate, but your points are very accurate in my opinion.
If you check out some actual studies, some of your claims are incorrect, or blatantly wrong. For example, you claim that text messaging is "impersonal", but studies such as [1] have found that many people find it more comfortable to portray their "real-self" through text messaging than through face-to-face communication, and that these people also tend to develop deeper, more personal relationships with those they often communicate with via text.
I'd also refute your claim that it's "rude" to text message while conversing with others in real life. Whether or not it is rude is a cultural and generational phenomenon. According to Lynne Lancaster and David Stillman's "The M-Factor: How the Millennial Generation Is Rocking the Workplace." Younger Americans often don't consider it rude to answer their cell or begin texting in the middle of a face-to-face conversation with someone else, while older people, less used to the behavior and the accompanying lack of eye contact or attention, find
Louisa,
I find the comment you made that "there is no excuse for rude social behaviour" to remind me of a grandmother who needs to take a deep breath and remember that yes, she too was once young and not stuffy and uptight about decorum. Rude social behaviour is defined purely by culture, and within the United States alone there are thousands of cultures and sub-cultures. Expressing your opinions about cell phones to someone who is using one at the table might be rude to them- hence you are being rude yourself, unless you define 'rudeness' by your own standards alone, or by the standards of a certain age generation. I'm thirty years old, I've grown up with technology aruond me, and as a kid/teen, before 'texting' existed, the pre-cursor was instand messenging, something I did quite often. I think there is always a line to what is 'polite' to a person- ignoring someone completely to text while they sit across from you at dinner is definitely pushing into rudeness, but how is this n
*throws Holy water at Bakcy* THE POWER WITHIT!
I caught someone txting but she is teachers pet so she got away from it again and again and again. Her g-pa is da principal so the teacher wouldn't yell at her... she gets away with EVERYTHING!!!!!!!! >:(
Hey Olivia are you saying that whatever people think is cool should be allowed?. Ok, i think drugs are cool. and Suicide! Especially Suicide!
Im obviously joking ._. Cellphones cause brain tumors anyway
sure, sometimes you say stuff in texts where you wouldnt in person but I think that kind of helps you speak your mind more and I text a hell of a lot and I know how to carry on a conversation in person.
texting is for gay ppl