Are you a big texter? Or are you more of a face to face kind of fella?
As I was sitting here doing homework I found myself CONSTANTLY checking my phone. I was subconsciously doing it at least once every three minutes. I took notice of the habit and then thought to myself “wow, it takes up so much of my day and all I am doing is texting friends to talk about basically nothing.”
I began to wonder about this trend and thought it would be a good blog topic. As I was researching facts about texting I learned some intriguing things. Texting back and fourth constantly is actually more popular among the female population than male population. This is because men feel the need to text to convey information to one another, women do it for intimacy and relation. Women then begin to think a guy is not interested and doesn’t care but on the other side the man has no idea that the woman is even concerned. The big problem with texting goes back to MISCOMMUNICATION. There is no verbal communication with face to face contact to indicate facial expressions, or voice tone, there is simply nothing. You have no idea if the person is joking, laughing, or even mad for that matter. People today lack social skills and we have texting and computers to blame for it.
Emotions have a whole new meaning. Laughter and excitement suddenly become an extreme, society feels the need to shower their emotions with CAPITAL LETTERS. Typing “lol” is not enough, are you really even laughing? Half the time while you are texting someone they are doing seven other things and are not even paying attention to your joke or conversation.
What about the over texters? Is it okay to have more then one thought? Will you be judged if you send multiple texts or is it acceptable? People who send multiple texts to the same person at one time can be perceived as being “too strong.” On the flip side of it, if you are in person it can come off as completely normal.
What about texting actually affecting our mental heath and sustainability ? According to Psyweb.com recent studies have shown negative effects on the human mind, “Most researchers agree that today’s tsunami of screen technology has and will affect the development of children’s brains. There is speculation that people will lose the patience necessary for delayed gratification, and also the ability to tolerate mental stillness.” (Marshall, 2012) In the long run too much of anything is never good for anybody, therefore our constant habit of texting is eventually going to catch up to us. Texting does not only affect us mentally but physically as well. The constant movement of your thumbs while texting causes a “cramped sawing motion of certain thumb tendons,” this can then cause inflammation of the tendon, which then will over time become apparent and cause the person pain. This pain can be reduced by physical therapy and anti-inflammatory medication.
So, next time before you fire up those thumbs and text away, think twice. I do not know about you, but in 30 years, carpal tunnel or other texting related pains all be the last thing I will need . I enjoy interacting face to face and spending time with a person, texting is extremely impersonal and can be quite annoying.
I loved reading this article, especially considering my major has to do with this topic! I have found, especially in college, that it is virtually impossible for me to get anything done with my phone sitting next to me. What I find even more frustrating, though, is that a majority of what I have said since I’ve gotten to Penn State has been lost to the air, since the people I talk to are distracted by what is going on on their phones. It’s so unfortunate because communicating in this way is affecting much more than relationships. They are also affecting people’s weight, sleep patterns, attention span, and emotions, as I found here . I think it is important that more information like in your post gets out into the world, so that people get a better understanding of how deadly this channel of communication can be.
I found this article extremely interesting, because whenever I find myself texting (which is always, heck, I’m listening to my phone go off as I’m typing this), It’s a way for me to keep in touch with people in multiple levels of my life, from academic to professional to just plain asking friends how they’re doing. It has lessened my ability to maintain information density because I am constantly in correspondence with someone at all times, and therefore I easily lose track of what needs to be conveyed quickly in messages! Maybe learning to keep texts short will make me more capable of concentrating on what I’m saying instead of being trapped on my phone! The effects of multitasking are always worse than we think, I suppose: http://www.reuters.com/article/2011/10/05/us-texting-driving-study-idUSTRE7946GT20111005
I found this article interesting because I did not know that women were four times more likely to text back and forth than boys. I was curious why girls would text for intimacy while boys would text more for information, but it seemed in the article that I found that girls will text more than boys in every category, including information (mostly schoolwork). This is most likely because women gossip more or believe that talking is a better way to get to know other people (while males are more on the other spectrum).
This blog post was so relatable to all individuals in this generation. Especially the part with women, I feel as though we get so caught up in the little things that don’t actually mean anything. I thought it was humorous to see that your studies showed that men don’t see the things that women are concerned about, which I see to be very true. Phones are such a big distraction towards school work and cause so much unnecessary stress to our lives.
This is an article I can relate to. I’ve noticed that most arguments that I have with people are over text, and usually all of my arguments are started by some misunderstanding. Texting seems like it is just a hassle, but sometimes you have to do it in order to keep in touch with people who are far away. I wonder if video games have the safe effects on your fingers. According to this article, video gaming causes thumb problems and wrist problems.
I completely agree! It actually freaks me out when I see a young child with a cell phone or I-pad or something. I think the effects it will have on the younger generation and even ours are going to be detrimental. I am strong believer in fresh air and going outside to knock for your friends! Also, like you mentioned, childhood obesity is absolutely a real and scary thing that is just getting worse and worse as technology progresses!
I constantly wonder about what the side affects from the constant use of technology will have on us, but more importantly the generations that will follow. Growing up I spent some time playing video games, but did not use electronics extremely often until 6th grade. I now see my cousin who is 7 and some of neighbors around the same age constantly playing video games or using other electronic devices. These things sure aren’t helping the American obesity problems or improving the desire to learn of children.