Text Messaging Gone Wrong
I know today is Workout Wednesday which I will get to later this afternoon but first I want to talk about the pitfalls of text messaging. A topic I am becoming all to frustrated with and if I could start a petition to abolish text messaging I would and not just for crazy drivers. Surprising text messaging has been around for 20 years, the first message was sent on December 3, 1992.
However, I'm from a generation where forms of communication were done solely by picking up the phone or talking face to face. It's becoming apparent the thought of actually having a face to face conversation with someone nowadays is completely absurd. People will not pick up their phone just to send a text minutes later with a simple "hey" as if they didn't just ignore the previous call. Really! Personally, I haven't adjusted to well to text messaging, to me it says ' "your not important enough to talk to" but hey I could be wrong.
I've had plenty of debates with friends about this topic, admittedly I come out on the losing end of the conversation but I will agree text message is good for simple and short messages like "Hey, I'm on my way", "How's your day going", "What's for dinner". In my opinion anything beyond that is a recipe for disaster whether it be work related or romantic relationships (which is where texting is mainly used).
While texting enables potential romantic partners to develop and maintain their relationships, it also may create a potential strain. There is an absence of rules and guidelines for interaction. This absence of expectations may ultimately cause conflict or disappointment in people, specifically those romantic in nature. There is no established etiquette for acceptable message length, response time, or frequency of interaction. People are therefore left to interpret texting etiquette based on their past experience and social cues from their partner. The harmful aspect of messaging develops when a partners read each other's' text messages. What one person may interpret as comical the recipient may take offensively. Here is a thought, it may not be the brightest idea in the world why not pick up the phone for clarification. However, most people won't even do this much because they are so conditioned to handle every situation via text message which lead to long hurtful attempts at fixing a problem that could have been solves with a phone call. Well maybe that's just too much to ask!
Once again, I will agree texting is an ideal way to express quick bytes of information or arrange face-to-face meetings,but participants should be well aware of the dangers of placing too high of an emphasis on texting. At the end of the day face-to-face communication and human interaction are still extremely important in any relationship. With the high risk of misinterpretation and the ambiguity within the concise messages, facial expressions and vocal inflection are still the only ways to truly read emotion. While happy faces and LOL's may help further express feelings, people still need physical contact and quality interactions to build and/or maintain healthy relationships. Or maybe it's just me!
However, I'm from a generation where forms of communication were done solely by picking up the phone or talking face to face. It's becoming apparent the thought of actually having a face to face conversation with someone nowadays is completely absurd. People will not pick up their phone just to send a text minutes later with a simple "hey" as if they didn't just ignore the previous call. Really! Personally, I haven't adjusted to well to text messaging, to me it says ' "your not important enough to talk to" but hey I could be wrong.
I've had plenty of debates with friends about this topic, admittedly I come out on the losing end of the conversation but I will agree text message is good for simple and short messages like "Hey, I'm on my way", "How's your day going", "What's for dinner". In my opinion anything beyond that is a recipe for disaster whether it be work related or romantic relationships (which is where texting is mainly used).
While texting enables potential romantic partners to develop and maintain their relationships, it also may create a potential strain. There is an absence of rules and guidelines for interaction. This absence of expectations may ultimately cause conflict or disappointment in people, specifically those romantic in nature. There is no established etiquette for acceptable message length, response time, or frequency of interaction. People are therefore left to interpret texting etiquette based on their past experience and social cues from their partner. The harmful aspect of messaging develops when a partners read each other's' text messages. What one person may interpret as comical the recipient may take offensively. Here is a thought, it may not be the brightest idea in the world why not pick up the phone for clarification. However, most people won't even do this much because they are so conditioned to handle every situation via text message which lead to long hurtful attempts at fixing a problem that could have been solves with a phone call. Well maybe that's just too much to ask!
Once again, I will agree texting is an ideal way to express quick bytes of information or arrange face-to-face meetings,but participants should be well aware of the dangers of placing too high of an emphasis on texting. At the end of the day face-to-face communication and human interaction are still extremely important in any relationship. With the high risk of misinterpretation and the ambiguity within the concise messages, facial expressions and vocal inflection are still the only ways to truly read emotion. While happy faces and LOL's may help further express feelings, people still need physical contact and quality interactions to build and/or maintain healthy relationships. Or maybe it's just me!
Great post Tish!
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