As I reflect on the students I worked with last year in college admissions, one stands out among the crowd as mature and gregarious. I do not attribute this to his activities or even his interests, but to the mere fact that he chose not to be overwhelmed by the demands of teen texting and instead had to focus on his own interests and develop his communication skills. He was not distracted and interrupted constantly by the mundane updates of when someone ate or how someone is bored. He is the only teen I have met in Orange County over the last few years who has never sent a text and he also has managed to conduct amazing scientific experiements and was accepted into his dream college.
I am a realist and know that he is in the small minority that choose not to text and recent studies show that teens prefer
texting to talking, but I feel that texting limits the attention span and communication skills of teens. Complex and mature thoughts go over the 140 character limit of tweets and texts.
Teens r gunA txt, bt I tnk dat we ll av d responsibilty 2 Rmind em dat der r oder fings dat dey nd n cn do W their tym (Teens are going to text, but I think that we all have the responsibilty to
remind them that there are other things that they need and can do with their time). Now if I can just convince my baby that her dolly is more entertaining than my iPhone.
