Is Texting Effecting The Way We Communicate?

can we counteract the culture?

First off, texting is amazing, it really is so convenient for so many different situations. Personally, I’ve lost track of the amount of times I’ve fired off a text asking a quick question of someone, rather than go through the process of; giving them a phone call, going through all the formalities and greetings, asking the question of interest, receiving an answer in amongst a whole lot of unnecessary fluff and then signing-off afterwards.

Texting has, in many ways, made communication easier by helping people avoid long, unpleasant phone conversations and making a quick “Hello” much easier. According to the Pew Research Centre, 72% of teenagers text regularly, and one in three sends more than 100 texts per day. Clearly, texting is the preferred method of communication among young people, and that trend is moving upward toward adults, who are also texting much more frequently. While texting hasn’t been around long enough for researchers to study its long-term effects on communication, there is circumstantial evidence that it is rapidly altering the ways people communicate with one another both via text and in person.

Unfortunately, as we had all assumed it would, the overuse and reliance on texting is impacting our social and education systems in a few negative ways.

1. Texting reduces the need for in-depth conversations

Have you texted people as a form of avoidance? A few abbreviated words keep people from meaningful dialogue and face-to-face communication. It also diminishes the importance of body language in our communication.

Texting increases the frequency of small talk and can be a great asset to people who are beginning to form a friendship; they may be much more comfortable texting each other witty one-liners than they are with the thought of picking up the phone and calling. But texting is, almost by definition, surface-level communication. When people communicate primarily via text, it diminishes their drive to gain any more meaning out of conversation, the comfort of a surface-level relationship wins out over the value of an in-depth, meaningful relationship.

2. Texting affects our basic language skills

The relaxed use of grammar and spelling within texting has lead to deficiencies in basic language skills in other areas of communication. Shortcuts with spelling, punctuation and emoticons don’t help children and teenagers learn the necessary writing and communication skills they need for college and the workforce. As mentioned earlier, teenagers sending more than 100 texts a day means that their exposure to convenient shortcuts, acronyms and abbreviations is formulating bad linguistic skills and habits.

People know they’re using improper grammar when they text; it’s merely a shortcut that enables them to relay a message quickly and effectively. But over time, the way we communicate—even if we know the way we communicate is “technically” wrong—affects the way we think. The result is that people who have grown up texting may have much poorer writing skills than people who regularly communicate using grammatically correct sentences either in person, over the phone, or via email. Even worse, they may lose their ability to modify their tone and style depending upon who they talk to. Many employers complain that entry-level hires have no idea how to send a business email or communicate appropriately to superiors.

3. Texting distracts us from being fully present

Hundreds-of-billions of text messages are sent each month around the world.

A lot of these texts are unfortunately sent at inappropriate times, at times when a person or task requires our full-attention. How many of us are guilty of texting during dinner or in a group hang out environment? These messages interrupt our brain function and attention, pulling our focus away from real world moments. This relationship with texting can put a strain on the other relationships in our lives, as dividing our attention sends a different kind of message.

4. Texting invites ambiguity

Although there are ways in which you can pad your text to convey more than just the words displayed on the screen such as emojis and GIFs, there is still a lot of potential for meaning to be lost in translation when it comes to texting others. Dr. Albert Mehrabian, author of Silent Messages, conducted several studies on nonverbal communication. He found that 7% of any message is conveyed through words, 38% through certain vocal elements, and 55% through nonverbal elements (facial expressions, gestures, posture, etc).

As 7% of communication is conveyed through words, you can see how texting, with its absence of vocal elements and nonverbal cues leaves too many opportunities to mistakenly read between the lines.

Text messages are great for quick questions and relays of information ie “I’m just at the shops. Do we have any milk?”. This example leaves little room for another party to misconstrue information, as there is a statement of someone’s whereabouts and a question relevant to their circumstance. A quick text for a quick response.

If you find that your texts are quite large, a thread of texts is starting to accumulate or you simply feel that what you’re writing is a little layered in context, maybe a quick call is the best option.

Conclusion

Is texting really that bad? well, that comes down to the individual user. Ever heard of the phrase “too much of a good thing”? If you abuse and overuse the texting function on your phone, it can start to form habitual and behavioural changes.

Just like most things in life, it all comes down to balance. Make the decision that you won’t text in certain environments, make sure you are making the conscious decision that texting someone is the best way to convey your message, and be purposeful in communicating with others outside of your phone.