I have learned a lot about how the roles of internet and technologies play an important role in many people lives. It is a lot easier to send a quick text than to have a conversation with someone. With text messaging you are able to receive a quick response. I have also become a fan of following blogs and that is easiest way to feel connected to someone thousands of miles away.
All of the new technologies are putting a strain on the relationships we have with our family, friends, and romantically. People would rather play Ruzzle with their best friend instead of going out to a movie. I know that for my family we a “no cell phone policy,” whenever we are together whether we are in the car or at the table preparing to eat my mom makes everyone put their phones away.
The overall message I received from the studies is that there are too many text messaging conversations and not enough face-to-face conversations. I found it interesting that “more teens report contacting their friends on a daily basis using texting (54%)” (Ling 2010). Teens come in contact with their friends at school I would think that they are talking about the school day instead of texting. I also found it interesting that “35% of 12 year-olds say they text daily, while 54% of 14 year-olds and 70% of 17 year-olds text everyday” (Lenhart 2010). I can honestly say as we get older those number steadily decrease. I know that I barely talk with my best friend face-to-face and that when we do it seems rushed or pushed, like we might run out of things to say. I agree with the findings and can definitely say that when I was 12-17 years-old I talked with my friends daily over the phone mainly to gossip or complain.
I also text people so much less than I did in high school. In high school, I had a lot more free time, and now text messages are just distractions. I don’t mean to forget about this type of communication, but I have a lot going on, and I just don’t have time to keep a conversation going. Personally, I get a lot more out of grabbing coffee with someone for a few hours once a month, than texting them every day.
I don’t think that CMC is making face to face interactions happen less, but it may be altering the way we talk face to face. For example, because text messages are generally short, is that making our speech shorter? Or are our text messages short because they mimic our face to face interactions? Teenagers are probably the easiest to influence because of their lack of experience, so I don’t know what we should base information on the general public on observations of only that age group.
Can you clarify how you got the impression that there were fewer face-to-face conversations? I ask because the research, which is discussed in Baym and in Rainie & Wellman, says the opposite. What we know from more than a decade of studying this is that actually people who use the internet more actually have *more* face-to-face and *more* phone conversations than non-users. And I think the same is true for heavy mobile users. If anything, the biggest downside to our connectedness is being overwhelmed with too much communication/information.
I wonder how much of the young teen girls communicate more via texting to isolate their conversations? The first thought that came to mind was texting for the purpose of gossip. Texting as a platform makes it easier to isolate and construct subtle interactions to extract information.
I also think there are more situations for younger people in which they are expected to be quiet and behave. They are relegated to their phones. Texting satisfies their desire for interaction and entertainment, while being socially appropriate. I see this constantly, working in a restaurant: younger teens and children can’t quite join the adult conversation (or aren’t expected to), so they are physically present but glued to their phones.
I’ve always been a big texter, but I also have been able to find a balance throughout my entire time with my cellphone and with the introduction of other technologies in my life. I agree that families should not allow technology to take away from their time together. For my family, this isn’t something we have to consciously think about. We automatically leave our gadgets and technologies out of reach whenever we get the time to spend together. This might be because we all live in different places, so when we actually get to hang out, we want to hang out with each other.
With my best friend, we message over Facebook and text every day. If I don’t talk to her every day then I just feel out of place. When we get together in person, we never run out of things to talk about and always have a good time. We just use our cell phones to stay in contact with each other when we aren’t around each other in person because we do not live together. I love our Face to Face conversations more, I have to say.