Pro:
By Kelly Ardis
Editor in chief
As evidenced by my unlimited texting phone plan, which I’ve had since my parents received my first phone bill, I’m a big fan of text messaging. I text to let a friend know I’m running late, I text to ask a quick question, I text to make plans and I text random funny things I see or hear at home, school or around town.
My mom jokes that she’s going to have to set up an intervention for my texting addiction, but I have my reasons for being a “textaholic.”
Texting allows us to communicate with people instantly, even when they might not be able to take a phone call. What if there is some kind of emergency while you’re in class? You can’t tell the importance of a call just by looking at the phone, but you can with a text. With a call, you’d have to excuse yourself to take the call to see if Granny is sick or just has a question about how to use the microwave. A text tells you what’s up without the hassle.
Calling a friend is fine if both parties have tons of time to chat and nothing important to do. I can answer a text and keep on working on homework, but some people don’t know when to shut up, so answering a call can take more time than I’d like to devote if I’ve got bigger things to worry about. Likewise, I don’t want to bug my friends if they’re busy. If I want to tell my friend about the crazy lady I just saw at Wal-Mart, I don’t want to call just to say, “Holy mullet! Got to love Wal-Mart!” Not to mention, I can’t send a picture of that sweet mullet through a phone call, but I can with a text.
Some people believe texting is impersonal, but I disagree. Texting can be as personal or impersonal as a phone call, depending on the individual. One of my best friends lives in Los Angeles and sometimes we can’t talk on the phone, but we still manage to have important conversations and maintain a great friendship, often through texting.
For some avid texters, the most important function of texting is that it is the perfect escape from a boring or awkward situation. When that lecture just refuses to end, texting is there to help ease the misery. At that party where almost everyone is a stranger but for whatever reason leaving is out of the question, texting an absent friend can make the situation at least seem a little less awkward.
This does bring me to my next point, though, the one downside of texting: the lack of etiquette some people use. Boring classes suck and texting makes it better, but keep it inconspicuous and, please, make sure the sound is off. Parties hosted by a friend of a friend can be awkward, but they can also be a way to meet new friends, so don’t write them off and retire to the darkest corner to text so soon. Don’t pay more attention to a text conversation than a real life one, unless it is something very important. And for the love of God, if you are going to text in a movie theater, at least hunch down so I don’t have to see that damn glowing screen.
As long as you follow proper texting etiquette, text away, my friends.
Con:
By Gregory D. Cook
Multimedia editor
In December of 1992, the simple phrase “Merry Christmas,” was sent to the phone of Richard Jarvis by Neil Papworth, becoming the first text message, and marking, as well, the first time a person was interrupted while having a good time at a party by someone else who couldn’t be bothered to deliver their inane thoughts in person. The race to remove the “personal” out of the term “personal communications” had begun.
According to a study conducted by the Cellular Telecommunications Industry Association, Americans sent an average of 4.1 billion text messages a day in 2009. That is a very big number, and it can also be seen as a very big warning sign as to the direction our society is heading when it comes to relating with each other.
Text messaging, when used as the name implies, to send a message, is a valuable tool. It is when whole conversations are conducted via texting that the negative effects begin to become evident.
There was a time, not so long ago, when talking to someone meant actually talking to him or her. We would formulate our thoughts into complete words and deliver them to their intended recipient with our own voices. Inflection, tone and other subtle nuances in the way we speak combined with the words themselves to form a very complex and personal way of communicating that the starkness of text on a screen just cannot convey.
Carrying on a conversation via text messaging removes the common courtesy of actually paying attention to what is being conveyed. The phone makes a little sound, or vibrates, letting a person know it is their turn to respond, if they care to, or they can choose to ignore what has been “said” until it is convenient. While this would be considered rude and anti-social in a face-to-face meeting, it is seen as a benefit by serial texters, and only encourages our society to become more and more insensitive and less intuitive in our dealings with each other.
A texting conversation also isolates its participants, which is the exact opposite of the purpose of interaction. By removing the physical aspects of the conversation the parties involved are unable to truly take part in a healthy conversation. Texting something like “I HATE U, WE R THRU,” is a poor substitution for actually screaming it at the face of the intended victim even if the message comes in all capital letters.
Putting aside the social implications of how texting can affect society, a physical downside is now emerging. “Texting thumb” is a form of repetitive stress injury connecting pain in the thumbs with excessive texting. Though, suffering thumb pain and then blaming texting is the same as blaming the hammer you just spent the day hitting yourself in the head with for your headache. It’s more of a self-control issue.
If a person has a thought that is worthy of sharing with others, that thought should be given the respect it is due, and it should be born into the world on the voice of its creator, with all of the subtle qualities of an individual’s voice that make it worthy of consideration.