Is text messaging ruining the art of conversation?
According to MSN, research shows the average person spends 4 hours a day communicating by email and text messaging. In fact, 46 percent of the people surveyed said they don't see family and friends as much as they used to, and they'd rather text message to avoid "wasting" time by talking.
Based on that research, critics of text-messaging, like psychologist Dr. David Lewis, believe in-person conversations are becoming a thing of the past. The doctor says too much "techno talk" makes people uncomfortable with more intimate face-to-face conversations. Critics also say the odd abbreviations used in text messages, are teaching young people bad spelling habits.
Not so! Supporters of electronic communication insist that email lets you get in touch more often, because you can send messages any time of day. And text messaging allows private conversations at work, or in a doctor's office, without bothering people nearby. Also, the supporters of text messaging say it's not bad spelling they're just using abbreviations.
But whether written skills are declining faster than spoken ones or not, both sides agree we won't really know the true effects of all this email and text messaging for at least 15 years.
And here's another new warning about text messaging. Those "private" messages may come back to haunt you. Even after you delete them off your phone, the messages aren't gone. Like with email, every text message is forwarded by a computer server. And many companies are storing messages on a hard drive...forever. The bottom line is, if you don't want your text messages going public, do yourself a favor, and don't send it!
Based on that research, critics of text-messaging, like psychologist Dr. David Lewis, believe in-person conversations are becoming a thing of the past. The doctor says too much "techno talk" makes people uncomfortable with more intimate face-to-face conversations. Critics also say the odd abbreviations used in text messages, are teaching young people bad spelling habits.
Not so! Supporters of electronic communication insist that email lets you get in touch more often, because you can send messages any time of day. And text messaging allows private conversations at work, or in a doctor's office, without bothering people nearby. Also, the supporters of text messaging say it's not bad spelling they're just using abbreviations.
But whether written skills are declining faster than spoken ones or not, both sides agree we won't really know the true effects of all this email and text messaging for at least 15 years.
And here's another new warning about text messaging. Those "private" messages may come back to haunt you. Even after you delete them off your phone, the messages aren't gone. Like with email, every text message is forwarded by a computer server. And many companies are storing messages on a hard drive...forever. The bottom line is, if you don't want your text messages going public, do yourself a favor, and don't send it!
