According to the NYTimes.com, Texting May Be Taking a Toll on Teenagers.
Clearly teenagers are texting alot these days, but I wonder how much of it is taking an actual toll vs a perceived toll by their parents and other authority figures. After all, what is too much? (For one thing, teens are not so wordy as adults in text messages, based on my not very signifigant sample. I would like to know how many of those messages were “K”, “BFN”, “LMAO”..I am guessing alot! 🙂 )
And it’s not just texting. I was watching my teenager using my laptop the other day, and she was texting on her cell as well as using Facebook and IM! Oh, and watching YouTube. The world is increasingly networked and generating more and more information that is coming at us. Not to mention being generated by us. However, it’s not just about processing information. How we socialize is more and more revolving around this. That’s what’s in front of us, whether we embrace it or reject it.
Is it bad? I think it is simply different. Indeed, this article, The Benefits of Distraction and Overstimulation in New York Magazine defends all this information. Good or bad, it’s something we need to address.
Smart People I Know 
As the parent of teenagers, I am all too familiar with this ubiquitous phenonmenon.
Literally EVERYWHERE you go, you will see teens frantically texting, while they’re hanging out with friends, or, alone at bus stops etc.
As with every scenario, it is a 2 sided situation. On the one hand, it is great that our youth are so adept at taking on all of this rapidly changing and ever evolving technology, but at the same time, I have to wonder what is happening to the lost art of basic communication, not to mention, the English language!
My youngest daughter often becomes a “monosyllabic zombie”, when I try to engage in a conversation with her while we are driving & she is texting, or when she is online, I have had to resort to “talking” to her via chatboxs!!
Overall, I think that “social networking” is mostly a good thing. Frequently our daughter chooses to spend her Friday or Saturday night at home, watching movies on her “pod”, listening to music,or just chatting with friends on MSN while sharing silly videos from YT with her pals……at least I know where she is, & whose she’s with!!! ;-D
I think teenagers were likely monosyllabic zombies for sometime now! 😉 Not to their friends of course: just parents. At least these new tools give us a way to reach them.
It’s also interesting how they have moved on from older media (theatres, TV) to newer ones. I guess this happens in every generation.
Thanks for the comments, Joanne!
It’s a double-edged sword, for sure. I wrote a short piece on the topic at http://growingupwell.org/2010/04/26/texting-vs-talking/