By Carter Helschien
3,339. That’s the number Nielsen reported in October 2010 for the average number of texts a teenager sends per month. A phenomenon that has left many parents questioning why it is such an obsession with teens, texting has defined a generation. As brilliant minds of the parent community congregate to attempt to identify the reason texting is the preferred form of communication for teens, the phenomenon grows. Some parents speculate that teens must enjoy typing more on their phones. Other parents speculate that teens enjoy reading more and thus would rather read responses than hear responses. Take it from a teen, however, that all of these responses are wrong. In reality, teens choose to text more and more for one simple reason: convenience.
Carter Helschien
One of the main reasons teens like me today love texting is the fact that it provides plenty of time to think about appropriate responses. Teenagers today are as concerned as ever about how to fit-in with the cool crowd, and so it is a teenager’s main concern when carrying a conversation with another friend that he or she does not say anything embarrassing, weird, or “un-cool.” For example, let’s say a boy, we’ll call him Johnny, is trying to have a conversation with a girl he likes, named Sally.
Scenario one is Johnny is talking to Sally over the phone. Sally says she thinks Johnny is very nice and funny; Johnny, upon hearing this, is unsure what to do. On one hand Johnny likes Sally very much and would love to tell her he likes her, but on the other hand he is not sure if she is just generally being nice and does not actually have the same feelings for him. Not wanting to take a risk and embarrass himself, Johnny loses his courage and awkwardly says nothing while he tries to think what to say. Sally, having gone out on a limb to be nice, realizes that there is a pregnant pause in the conversation and decides Johnny must not like her. Sally and Johnny say goodbye, both disappointed and embarrassed.
Scenario two is Johnny and Sally are texting each other. During the conversation Sally says the same nice comments. Reacting the same as in the first scenario, Johnny is unsure what to say, but he knows he has plenty of time as Sally will not know whether or not he was busing doing something else and had not had time yet to read the text. With the pressure off and being less nervous to go out on a limb (worst case scenario he could always blame it on his annoying brother stealing his phone and jokingly sending a text message), Johnny admits his true feelings for Sally. Fortunately, Sally is relieved to hear that Johnny feels the same way and the two become girlfriend and boyfriend.
As the above example shows, having a conversation by texting is appealing to teenagers as it is more convenient due to the impersonal nature of texting. Consequently, questions that a teenager might be afraid to ask in person or on a cell phone are easy to ask in a text message.
The impersonality of text messaging is not the only reason teenagers enjoy texting over talking in person or on the phone, however. Specifically, the fact that text messaging is so quick and instantaneous allows teens to hold multiple conversations with multiple friends at the same time. For example, a typical teenager might be holding a conversation through text with five or six different people at once, texting person A, then person B, then person C, back to person A, and so on. As a result, texting provides an ideal solution to have conversations for the ninety-percent of teens who just don’t have enough patience to sit down and devote their time to one telephone conversation, while they could be having five or six conversations by texting.
Lastly, however, teenagers also find texting convenient due to the fact that they can talk to friends in places it might be awkward or inappropriate to have a conversation on the phone. For example, going back to the earlier example, if Johnny wants to talk to Sally, but he is in the car with his parents and brother and does not want to talk to her in front of them, he can simply text Sally. Through texting, Johnny can have a private conversation with Sally without having to worry about anyone eavesdropping on what they say.
So if you are ever worried that your teen is texting too much, or that he or she must not have many friends because you never hear him or her talking on the phone, fear not. For if your teen has a cell phone, you can bet your life savings that he or she texts regularly to various friends. Hopefully, after reading this, parents will realize just how convenient and efficient texting can be for teenagers; for in reality, texting is not simply just another feature on a cell phone, but a way of life.