Parents, we need to help our children understand that text messaging is not a neutral form of communication. The method shapes the message and the messenger.
Al Mohler reflects on how text message and the electronic age is shaping our young people. In so doing, he interacts with a recent Wall Street Journal article.
Jeffery Zaslow of The Wall Street Journal opens his article with the story of a 17-year-old boy sent to the vice principal’s office after being caught sending text messages in class. The vice principal, Steve Gallagher, told the boy to pay attention to the teacher, not to his cellphone. Even as the boy nodded politely, Gallagher noticed something amiss — the boy was texting about his discipline for being caught texting.
“It was a subconscious act,” said Gallagher. “Young people today are connected socially from the moment they open their eyes in the morning until they close their eyes at night. It’s compulsive.”
Zaslow calls the lifestyle of these young people “hypersocializing.”
Read the whole thing here.
A friend was telling me about going out to lunch with another family and trying to engage the teens sitting across from him. While they gave polite answers, it was obvious that they just wanted to get back to texting.
I was thinking about how this hypersocialization will limit the cross generational relating that our teens so desperately need.