Questions from Teens

Great discussion is being generated in class with all the media buzz around cell phones in the classroom. I took the opportunity to discuss texting with one of my grade 11 classes, asking students to think about the fears around teens and texting and to frame questions around those fears. Here's what we discussed:

"Is texting really making us become more anti-social?"

Texting is actually quite social. In fact it's hyper-social. Teens are connecting with each other around the clock and staying more connected to each other than ever. Adults worry when teens go off to their rooms and text because face-to-face interaction with them drops off. Adults equate your physical absence with anti-social behaviour because they have learned to be social by being physically present. They are worried about being kept outside of your social space. Spend some face-to-face time with your parents every day.

"Won't we have a harder time communicating face-to-face?"

Just because you are communicating less face-to-face doesn't mean you'll forget how to do it. It's just another form of communication that you can choose from. That means you'll need to assess the most effective way to get your message across when communicating. For example, teens enjoy using sarcasm with each other. That's difficult to read in a text. You're probably already reserving that for face-to-face interaction.

Some teens I interviewed during my documentary said they use texting to help them think about what they want to communicate when responding in a difficult situation, instead of acting impulsively. This can be a benefit in preventing a situation from escalating, however, teens do lose the opportunity to read body language. Sometimes what we say or write isn't exactly how we feel. Teens need to think ahead about the possible outcomes of using each kind of communication before they engage in a difficult conversation. It's not much different than before cell phones when teens used notes to express themselves instead of dealing face-to-face. Teens have already been negotiating between written forms of communication and face-to-face.


Another question that came up was "is texting ruining our ability to spell correctly and use proper grammar?" The response will appear in an upcoming post.