Teens and Texting

Quick Question:  What is the most widely used data application on the planet?  If you said Windows or Mac, you are wrong.  SMS (Short Message Service) has 2.4 Billion users (74% of mobile phones). 

SMS is the main platform for sending text messages.  These 160 characters or less messages are sent primarily from one mobile phone to another but can also interface with email or large systems that can send blanket messages about news, emergencies, etc. 

The Obama campaign gave text messages an extra dose of credibility when they announced their Vice Presidential running mate via text to supporters.

If you spend time with teenagers longer than 5 minutes you will quickly understand that texting is a major part of their daily communication.  Nielsen Research confirms that teens send or receive an average of 96 text messages per day (that’s over 35,000 per year!). 

Busy parents use texting to keep up with car pool reminders, game cancellations, and summer camp ups and downs.  However useful the 160 character or less messages are, there are many reasons for parents to be concerned about the access to text messaging that their teen has. 

Cheating
A recent survey by Common Sense Media reveals that more than 1/3 of teens with cell phones admit that they cheated at least once with them.  More troubling is the fact that many of them did not see that cheating using electronic communication is not wrong.  Many parents have a hard time believing that their child would be involved in this, or don’t understand how it could go on in the classroom.  Many teens can type the Gettysburg Address while their phone is in their pocket and they are looking straight ahead. 

Cyber-bullying
It’s hard for many to imagine how bullying can occur via text messages and emails.  If you are in this category, just picture yourself on the elementary school playground.  The cyber world is the current generation’s playground of yesteryear.  It’s where they ‘hang out’ and spend time.  Cyber bullying can have some devastating effects, especially on younger teens who view even rumors about them as something they can not escape.  Many parents are concerned about sexual predators starting a friendship with their child online and luring them to real life meetings.  Experts say that it is more likely your child will have an unhealthy encounter with someone they know than with someone they do not and that cyber bullying should be a parent’s number one concern.

Sex-ting
Sexting is one of the newest dangers that advancements in portable technology has brought.  Sexting, by definition, is sending a nude or suggestive photo via a mobile phone.  Most of the time these photos are sent by the person as a joke or thinking that it will only go to the person it was sent to.  These photos however can be sent literally around the world in less than a minute.  Law enforcement has gotten involved in several cases, charging the senders and receivers with trafficking child pornography.  A 19 year old in Florida will be on the sex offender registry until he is 43 for sending a picture of his ex –girlfriend to several other people – a picture that she sent him. 

Texting while Driving (TWD)
Distracted driving is a huge problem today, especially with teens.  Cell phone use while driving has been under fire since its inception with studies that show it is equivalent to driving drunk.  Texting while Driving is now under the microscope.  Driving a 2,000 lb. missile at 80 miles per hour really should deserve our full attention. 

The key for teens having healthy mobile phone use is parent involvement.  Make a written contract for appropriate use and set consequences for breaking them.  (You can find a sample in the parents section of  www.studentymca.org.)   You can also work with your cell service provider to set limits on what time of day cell service and or text messaging can be turned off.  For example you can turn off text messaging during school hours, and between bedtime and wake up time. 

Before you assign all the problems related to texting to teenagers, realize that they are just a mirror of the overall population.  The Nielsen data shows that in most areas such as internet use, web video viewing, and gaming, adults actually spend more time per day.

Dr. David Walsh at the National Institute on Media and the Family has a great Parent’s Guide to Cell Phones that I highly recommend.  You can download it, as well as other resources including a quiz that checks your knowledge of text abbreviations in the parents section of www.studentymca.org.   

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