What is it that the New York Times claims is causing teens anxiety, falling grades, repetitive stress injury and sleep deprivation? They claim teens are doing it at school, late at night, at restaurants and while crossing the street. What is this plague that is taking control of today's youth? They say texting is the cause of all the aforementioned ailments. It may also be altering the way youth grow up and become adults.
Physiologists say that youth in their teen years start to gain independence from their parents as well as growing into their own individual adult. Texting is helping to shape teens as they grow by constantly being connected to their peers and parents.
A simple constant connection or the "always on" keeps teens up at night, constantly texting and it genuinely distracts them for more important things that are going on in their vicinity.
Further texting is taking a serious toll in the class room. "Teachers are often oblivious. It's a huge issue, and it's rampant," said Deborah Yager, a high school chemistry teacher in Castro Valley, Calif. Ms. Yager recently gave an anonymous survey to 50 of her students; most said they texted during class."
Adding to the mental stress is also the physical stress on the body. Rampant texting is much like typing for long periods. "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."
It is still unknown how texting will change the world as the teens grow up. In about ten years today's teens will have graduated college and be out in the professional world. How will all of this change business communication? Who knows, maybe the next major corporate merger will take place on Twitter.
"It is still unknown how texting will change the world as the teens grow up."
so kids having their own phone in their room didnt provide constant connectedness and "keep teens up at night"?
kids didnt pass notes in class before phones?
if your 15 and suffering from "repetitive stress injury" from typing on a phone your simply doing it wrong. is it possible for a 15 year old to cause serious tendon damage from a QWERTY phone?
to make a claim like "It may also be altering the way youth grow up and become adults." is amazing. well no S&%T its changing the way kids grow up. they use a device as their main form of communication and they can do it when ever they like. thats like saying the creation of the USPS changes the way kids of that era grew up. having someone ELSE take their mail from place to place is ground breaking and earth shattering.
am i out of line to think this is a retarded waste of New York Times publication space? no?
if your 15 and suffering from "repetitive stress injury" from typing on a phone your simply doing it wrong. is it possible for a 15 year old to cause serious tendon damage from a QWERTY phone?
you can do damage from constant repetitious motion...its kinda like the chinese water tourture...the first drop hitting you doesnt hurt, but the 12k one does
This might sounds like I'm contradicting myself, but I can see where she's coming from where moderation is key, anything in excess can be unhealthy. Spending an hour or two on the cellphone is fine, but from some stories I hear about kids sending 10,000 text messages or spending hours on end on the cellphone/internet is bound to have some unwanted effects. The same way if a kid in the 70's spent the majority of their childhood glued to the tube, there's bound to be some effects on social development and health. Or teens in the 80's who spent more time on the phone than studying probably would've affected their grades.
In other words, this is nothing new but that doesn't make it not a problem.
To attribute all these changes directly to texting is silly, but to see it as the effect of the gradual onset of technological dependencies is more closely aligned to the right track of though.
It is highly unlikely that this type of technology will vanish any time soon, but rather people will become even more "always on".
The way they grow up will therefore be useful in the future. Remember! What is important today is not always important tomorrow.
In general, I don't see a problem with it unless there was some reason that the whole technology would stop working.
To more specific cases; I can see a problem if it were to interrupt other people e.g. other students.
The way you stop this is by punishing people that cause disruption with ringtones during classes etc.
Don't get me started on the educational side effects because I think there are more serious social problems that need to be solved (and which would solve this type of thing) first, such as the current mentality "school is bad" or similar.
Now for why I replied in this thread; NyaR, "development of cranial capabilities" will not change unless you either embed technology there or give it a few hundred generations of natural selection, which isn't going to happen any time soon. What I think you meant was we learn to use the environment we have by the experience, rather than developing new physical capabilities.
Kids shouldn't have cellphones. It's a distraction from class and real life problems.
Kids shouldn't have cellphones. It's a distraction from class and real life problems.
Real life problems like not having a cellphone.
Take away the average teen's cell phone and watch them lose their sanity within 5 minutes of not being able to "lol with their bffs."
Kids shouldn't have cellphones. It's a distraction from class and real life problems.
....expecially when they slam into a tree at 50mph while texting.
Me love Mongolian Beef.
i completely agree.
Game Boy Advanced Early 2000?
Game Boy SP Mid 2000?
Game Boy Pocket Mid 1990s?
PSP Mid 2000s?
Note passing As Long As Paper Has Been Around?
Cordless Phones 1990s?
Wired Phones in bedrooms 1970s 1980s 1990s?
Laptops Mid 2000 / Current?
I hardly doubt texting is such a major concern that its unheard of to have these types of "side effects" before.
What's more important, though, is how dismissive so many people are. If it turns out that a texting habit DOES have negative side effects, we should know about it. Instead, even when the studies for this sort of thing are just kicking off, they get attacked by negative feedback and rants across the internet. The defensiveness is pretty dang weird, and itself indicative of a problem.
Thank you soo much texting! My parent's can't mulitask for their life.
I swear everyone had a Ti-83 or 83+ in high school (required for most math classes) and everyone constantly played games.
The best was playing tetris in study hall against someone with the link cable.
Note passing is not the equivalent of texting.
Gameboys are another overt device and they were in far fewer numbers than cellphones.
My sons will be texting at dinner (rude) and simply while walking with people instead of talking. There is a time and place for texting but most kids do not realize the best times and do it anytime at all. I think phones should be banned at school or at the very least be kept in a location other than the childs so it can't be used. They are needed for emergencies sometimes so banning might be a little too strong-armed.
Better yet though, kids shouldn't have a phone that can text, just a basic phone for emergencies, but that comes down to the parents to police.
"My sons will be talking on the phone at dinner (rude) and simply while walking with people instead of talking with them"
It's called new technology. Learn to adapt, don't be like the caveman in the Geico commercials.
Kids need pocket money and not say £1 to go buy sweets. Give them enough to make their own decisions they will soon learn to stop texting. (basically dont give them enough to get an unlimted text plan or similar). If they can only afford a pay as you go phone and can only top up £10 every other week or so they will soon stop texting to their hearts content - and if they complain ask why the hell they need to text so much? I know kids who have phones who work like this and its amazing they can make £10 of credit last 2 or more months - they then save and realise they can buy better thing than disposable texts.
Parents should not control kids so they dont make mistakes, they should let them make mistake (let them text like hell for 3 days - oh no, I have no credit, oh dear. Better text less next month - it is that simple).
Though what can you expect with current world situation being down to so many adults not having a clue about money and "texting" to their own hearts content.
And I love texting (On my Windows Mobile phone with a full slide out keyboard)
I don't know what iPhone you have, but mine's doesn't suck for texting. I found it to be an improvement over texting on other phones.
@andrewbares
Why do people need to be lying if they like the onscreen keyboard? And thanks for sharing.
Though any qwerty keypad that is not touch screen is far superior to the iPhones imo. Its because of tactile feedback - it the reason you can text and dial without looking at the keypad - this is far harder to learn on an iPhone.
lul u dun gt it?
I complete most of my text messages in around 10 seconds, maybe less - and my phone isn't exactly a text-friendly phone. (will change once my plan ends) Texting is hell of a lot quicker when you don't need a verbal communication, and a lot of times, you don't. I'm texting a group of friends to see if they want to go to the movies, see if my girlfriend wants to go out, asking someone else for this person's phone number, etc.
The older generation will always (for the most part) be opposed to the actions of the younger. Why? Because change is a villainous and always evil aspect of society, and it must be stopped. Anyone who actually believes that texting is destroying our youth is beyond moronic.
Now, if your child is one of those who sends tens of thousands a messages a month, then I could see your point..
Texting is fine, but it really doesn't need to exist in the classroom / dinner table etc. - you have plenty of time elsewhere to do it.
I haven't texted during dinner, but I have in lectures. (I don't know many people of my generation who haven't ever.) I don't think that there is anything wrong with texting in moderation. In the space of a few seconds that it takes to send a text, I wouldn't have missed an important point. Also, once you're used to texting, you can pretty much pay attention to the lecture and send a message to someone. Honestly, it hasn't affected my learning.
What I'm trying to say is all your points seem to apply to people who send "tens of thousands a messages a month", in which case, quoting HolyOne once again, "I could see your point".
Last edited by Manish on 27 May 2009 - 13:25
If everyone texts in classes and everyone in that class becomes "dumber" the grades stay the same even if everyone is not doing so well. This is because grade averaging over years stabilises how many get As Bs etc. etc. So having an "average" (average being his arithmetic mean on his marks - not meaning "okay" from arithmetic mean from the population) staying the same in a growing population of texting in lessons proves well F*** all. Maybe paying attention to Maths classes more this would make sense?
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"you have plenty of time elsewhere to do it" (watching TV etc.)
Most lessons are an hour or two at most usually - anything that cant wait that long should be pretty serious in my opinion - and if that's the case it probably shouldn't be sent in a text anyway.
There's no issue in it being sending say 1 text a day in a class at some point - I think this is grasping more at those who send say 10+ texts a day during classes.
Texting is fine, but it really doesn't need to exist in the classroom / dinner table etc. - you have plenty of time elsewhere to do it.
An A is not an average grade - by saying I maintain my A average, it means that the grade I get in all my classes is an A. That has not slipped. If anything, my grades percentage wise have improved this year, and thats with taking much harder classes.
I do not text at the dinner table because I too think that's rude, and most messages can wait the 10 - 15 minutes that dinner typically lasts. I don't know how old you are, but if you think most kids would use their spare time for studying, then you are dead wrong. I'm not saying I don't study, but it's not like I spend every spare minute I have with a textbook open trying to further my knowledge.
I haven't texted during dinner, but I have in lectures. (I don't know many people of my generation who haven't ever.) I don't think that there is anything wrong with texting in moderation. In the space of a few seconds that it takes to send a text, I wouldn't have missed an important point. Also, once you're used to texting, you can pretty much pay attention to the lecture and send a message to someone. Honestly, it hasn't affected my learning.
What I'm trying to say is all your points seem to apply to people who send "tens of thousands a messages a month", in which case, quoting HolyOne once again, "I could see your point".
I send around 100 a day, sometimes more, sometimes less. All depends.
You bring up some valid points. My texting "skills" have gotten to the point where I don't need to be looking down at my phone to know what it is that I'm writing, and while I can't say it doesn't distract me whatsoever because it does divide my attention, it's not the endall that everyone seems to be thinking it is. No, I am not going to fail my next math exam because I sent a couple messages during class - No, I am not going to miss half the lecture because I decided to text a friend seeing if he wanted to do anything after school.
Another thing is that adults seem to think that cell phone policies are either nonexistent or not enforced in schools. The latter, I can somewhat agree with. But I have heard of no school that does not have a no cell phone policy - that means you can't text during class. can't have your phone out, etc. The suggestion that phones should be banned altogether from campuses is ridiculous. I need my phone, as do most other teenagers. Adults always whip out the, "Oh, I did just fine without a phone." Hell yeah you did, fortunately, this isn't the 70's or 80's anymore.
Last edited by HolyOne on 27 May 2009 - 17:52
The comment about maintaining an average A grade was used to show that texting in classes doesn't neccessarily affect everyone in the same way. Without using the grading system as a marker for intelligence, how else was he going to show you if texting made him dumber or not? Since you don't know how high, in terms of raw marks, his As are, you can't assume that grade averaging is maintaing his As. You also don't know if everyone around him is texting frequently enough in classes, for texting to be a major factor contributing to grade averaging.
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I was talking about moderate texting. 10s out of a 1-2hr lecture is less than half a percent. Even without texting, you'll be distracted for more than that. And as I said, it isn't hard to focus on more than 2 things at once (for example, you don't need to look while texting). So, in my opinion, it's okay to text in lectures, as long as it's not excessive.
People sitting getting employed to send sex chat messages probably send less - maybe you should get a job doing that and you can earn money whilst in class.
knowing when to use your phone is the key.
OT, I like listening to music than texting.
or better yet listening to music while texting. haha
If teens get obsessed over anything then it will negatively impact other areas of their life. It could be Internet, video games, food, talking on the phone, whatever. Texting is just another thing. We don't need surveys or studies or reports to determine this as it is NOT news.
If it is a problem then parents need to do their d--- job. Problem solved.
From the ages of 15 to 17, I was texting most lessons in school and then at home.
I'm blaming girls for that.
Who "fails"? The article, the comments? This comment is closer to text language than understandable English.
this is not a moral issue but rather a call for plain common sense and decency. too much texting wastes time, ruins your concentration and believe it or not, a rude behavior to those you are with/ speaking to face to face.
also you would notice a text addict when he replies to you on the internet like messenger or a pm with a fully abbreviated message with no grammar at all. its exasperating. i'm like "hey we are using keyboards now and messenger does not charge when you reach 120 characters. try to make full sentences and spell properly ok?". no i'm not a grammar nazi but please text abbreviation on messenger? i think thats too much.
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