Listen up, parents. A recent study by the Pew Internet and American Life Project, found that one third of U.S. teens send more than 100 texts a day.
100 texts a day.
What do you do 100 times a day? Breathe? Smile? Speak? Pray?
I’m not sure.
But as a parent, I do worry about the phenomenon of texting and its prominent place in teen culture.
On the one hand, I completely understand its popularity. When I think about what my high school friends and I would have done if we had access to a private means of instant communication 24 hours a day, I know that we would have been using it. A lot. But when I think about the kinds of things we would have shared and said through that means of communication, I worry. A lot.
I’m not one of those grown ups who wrings her hands over the lost art of written communication (Though I do have a brother who teaches high school and he assures me that he regularly receives written assignments in “text.”)
But I worry about the power of this kind of instant, public, always-available communication in the hands of young people who lack the maturity to recognize its dangers and limitations.
Many cases of cyber and cell phone bullying have made headlines in recent years, and some of them are unbelievably tragic.
I certainly am not saying teens should not have access to texting, but I am saying that parents need to set rules and limitations for its use. Should teens be taking their cell phones into classrooms? Into their bedrooms? To the dinner table?
Anything a teen does 100 times a day is going to form a habit, for good or for bad. I hope that parents will pay attention to the powerful influence of texting in their teens lives.
Your kids are saying something.
r u listning?
Comments
Post a Comment
<<Text messaging has become so much a part of teenagers’ lives that 87 percent of those who text said that they sleep with, or next to, their phone.>>
From the article referenced above. This just isn’t right.
Going to check both kids phones tonight.
I am one of those grown ups who wrings her hands over the lost art of written communication. . .
and I would say teens should not have access to texting, mine don’t. They don’t have cell phones. What’s more, I don’t have a cell phone and have never “texted” in my life. (Our children also do not have computers and do not have free access to our home computer.)
I think parents should look at the consequences of putting a cell phone in the hands of their teens. Is this aiding them on their path to heaven, in other words, does this aid them in becoming and living as the people God made them to be?
God made us to be with each other and every degree we step away from that physical presence, the less we have and are of what God wants for us. We are losing, in this society, the meaning of what it is to be human. Computers and cell phones (particularly as used for texting) diminish, not enhance our humanness. Is that what we want for our children? Surely we, as parents, can do better.
I should be more diligent paying attention to what my children text without a doubt. We discuss it but after reading this reminder we will have further discussions.
I am personally pleased my children have phones. I taught myself to text to stay in communication with my older children, now adults. I know where my children are and if I don’t I quickly find out. Plus they have access to me when they are away from the home working or with friends.
The society we live in is busy this is our reality. Rather then let the technology take our kids use the technology to our advantage.I frequently text my children with messages of love- or don’t forget your prayers today -love mom, type messages. I text my niece and God child who lives 600 miles away. We now communicate frequently by text where as before it was barely at all.
http://confessionsfromandoldermother.blogspot.com/
I am one of those high school teachers who laments the loss of written communication. And it is becoming a loss of oral communication. A student actually responded out loud “IDK” to a question I asked!
Post a Comment
By submitting this form, you give The National Catholic Register permission to publish this comment. Comments will be published at our discretion, and may be edited for clarity and length. For best formatting, please limit your response to one paragraph and don't hit "enter" to force line breaks.