“Text me!” has become one of the most common phrases people use when they first meet each other. Ever since text messaging was first introduced in 1933, the use of SMS (short messaging service) has increased exponentially especially among teenagers nowadays. Despite the convenience that texting has brought us, it causes numerous social problems that are almost impossible to eradicate from our daily lives. The most problematic social problems of texting is the lack of communication and interaction between people.”Americans ages 18-29 send and receive an average of nearly 88 text messages per day, compared to 17 phone calls. The numbers change as we get older, with the overall frequency of all communication declining, but even in the 65 and over group, daily texting still edges calling 4.7 to 3.8. In the TIME mobility poll, 32% of all respondents said they’d rather communicate by text than phone, even with people they know very well. This is truer still in the workplace, where communication is between colleagues who are often not friends at all. “No more trying to find time to call and chit-chat,” is how one poll respondent described the business appeal of texting over talking” (cnn.com). An interesting fact that is mentioned in this article on cnn.com is that texting takes away people’s ability to convey their true emotions. For example, when you receive a text message of an apology from someone, you won’t feel the same sincerity and the genuine regret that you get from the apology in person.
In lecture, we discussed that the telephone was one of the media scares back in the days. The negative effects of the telephone that people predicted and were afraid of were that the use of the telephone is is bad for health, makes you lazy, and interrupts family or social interactions. Overall, texting may have brought us convenience and saved us time in life but may have also become a toxic medium that defeats the purpose of faster communication.
Sources
http://www.cnn.com/2012/08/31/tech/mobile/problem-text-messaging-oms/
1933?