Does Texting Ruin Your Ability To Communicate? WHU KNWZ, LOL!
We've seen report after report asserting that children, teens and even adults text like there's no tomorrow. According to Nielsen Mobile research, the average teenager with a cellphone sends and receives a grand total of 2272 text messages per month, or about eleventy billion per second of every day. All joking aside, there's no denying that the SMS revolution revolution is upon us. Certain schools are even educating children about the SMS lingo, but one has to wonder if all this textual communication isn't harmful to the innocent minds of our next generation.
A recent piece over at The Wall Street Journal attempts to tackle that very question, and unlike the pundits out there who are suggesting that the text message is single-handedly rotting the communication skills of their offspring, at least one parent feels that texting may actually have merit. WSJ contends that while texting may be incredibly annoying (ever had someone reply to a text while you're attempting to have a face-to-face talk?), the benefits outweigh the negatives if you're willing to not turn off formal communication entirely.
In fact, it could be argued that texting allows friends and family to stay somewhat in touch, whereas no contact at all would be made if talking over the phone or email were the only option. Also, it could be argued that texting complements the face-to-face talk, helping individuals to actually pick up more verbal cues over SMS than you could otherwise. The bottom line here is that no scientific data can prove one way or the other if texting is good or bad for you. We'd say that if you let texting take over your life, you're obviously asking for the criticism. If you simply use it to complement your daily communications, you'll be fine. Just make sure to step out every now and then and get some fresh air.
A recent piece over at The Wall Street Journal attempts to tackle that very question, and unlike the pundits out there who are suggesting that the text message is single-handedly rotting the communication skills of their offspring, at least one parent feels that texting may actually have merit. WSJ contends that while texting may be incredibly annoying (ever had someone reply to a text while you're attempting to have a face-to-face talk?), the benefits outweigh the negatives if you're willing to not turn off formal communication entirely.
In fact, it could be argued that texting allows friends and family to stay somewhat in touch, whereas no contact at all would be made if talking over the phone or email were the only option. Also, it could be argued that texting complements the face-to-face talk, helping individuals to actually pick up more verbal cues over SMS than you could otherwise. The bottom line here is that no scientific data can prove one way or the other if texting is good or bad for you. We'd say that if you let texting take over your life, you're obviously asking for the criticism. If you simply use it to complement your daily communications, you'll be fine. Just make sure to step out every now and then and get some fresh air.
