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Texting Is The New Talking

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Texting wasn’t even around just a few years ago.

A few days ago, I read this article from Yahoo saying that 1/3 of teens with a cell phone send more than 100 texts a day!

For me, one that deals with teens on a daily basis, this is important information.

It tells me that teens today would much rather read my text than take my phone call.

This wasn’t so when most of you (or even I) were teens.

It seems like the days of late night phone conversations with friends are all but over.
It seems like even the days of AIM are coming to a close.

The world is changing.
The way we communicate with our world is changing.
The aspects of relationship are changing.

You – as a parent, a pastor, a teacher, a friend, a brother, or a sister can battle the changing world, or figure out how to leverage the newly adopted preferences of the world.

The question is, what are we doing to reach the current generation in a way that leverages how they choose to communicate?

How are you monitoring what your teen says in texts?
How are you using texts to reach a new generation?
How are your relationships being changed by a new form of communication?

We can fight the changes in our culture, or we can use them as leverage for our message.

What other changes are happening in our culture that we need to leverage for maximum impact?
Are these texting statistics alarming in any way?

7 responses to “Texting Is The New Talking”

  1. Jay Cookingham Avatar
    Jay Cookingham

    I’m blessed that my kids would rather have a face-to-face talk than text.
    Then again, we’re a family of talkers and have fostered that in our kids. Interesting post, something we need to consider when it seems like everybody has their fingers on a mini keypad these days.

    Peace,
    Jay

    Reply
    1. Jonathan Pearson Avatar
      Jonathan Pearson

      I’ve always been more of a face to face person, but I see myself sending more texts these days too. Thanks for your comment!

      Reply
  2. @BlancaV Avatar
    @BlancaV

    Good post Jonathan!
    The young people I mentor receive encouragement, Scripture or ‘hey’ from me via text. I also use FB mail. Lately, my college freshman has been talking to me on Twitter.
    E-mail and calling seem to be going out. Text monitoring should be no different than what parents do for internet.
    Big God Hugs,
    Blanca

    Reply
    1. Jonathan Pearson Avatar
      Jonathan Pearson

      Some great points there. Thanks for sharing!

      Reply
  3. Andrew (@Amart62) Avatar
    Andrew (@Amart62)

    Good post Jonathan – as a father of 4, and just a few years older than you [lol ;)], I too have had to learn to “roll” with the times. We communicate via Email, Text, Twitter (and the rest of the fam by Facebook, including Mama but not me). We also spend as much time as possible in face-to-face quality family time. Which, leads me to my one pet peeve – it really bothers me when people, kids as well as adults, are texting or fooling around on their phones during face to face conversations. Alot of them tell me to continue talking, they can multi-task, but I just can’t get past the feeling that it is just rude and disrespectful. My kids know how I feel about this and are respectful in this manner. Do you encounter the same thing? Any suggestions on how you deal with this?

    In His Love,
    Andrew

    Reply
  4. Duane Scott Avatar
    Duane Scott

    Love your blog! Great design…. great content…

    Here’s my opinion. I think that a text should not be full conversations. We are letting go of decent conversational skills. Another thing I guard against, spiritual conversations via text. I know that might sound bad, but emotional care and concern for the well-being of whomever you are texting is often misplaced or misread if they cannot read your expression.

    Correct me if I’m wrong. I’d love to have a conversation on this. :)

    Great post!

    Reply
    1. Jonathan Pearson Avatar
      Jonathan Pearson

      I think you’re absolutely correct. One of the major problems I see with text messaging is the inability to see the other aspects of communication (body language, facial expressions, etc.). I think we definitely have to be careful with it. We also have to incorporate it where we can. Wednesday night, I sent out a mass text to my students containing the application part of my message. I think things like that are definite advantages of text messaging. Thanks for reading and adding your input!

      Reply

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