Day and night students' 'lols' and 'omgs' are being sent from phone to phone thanks to the  wonder  of text messaging.  Texting is a fast and easy way to communicate with others without the emotional energy of a phone call or the waiting period of an email.  However, texting is now ruining dinner conversations and family car rides across the nation.  So, is texting a benefit or an insidious force that should be ended?

      But first, let’s look at the views of those that use texting for good. For the purposes of the article we shall call the text-goddess, Ethel.  Texting allows for fast and easy conversations to transpire without disrupting others around Ethel or the event that she is currently attending.  For example, once Ethel was stuck in traffic and very late for a meeting.  But with a quick text saying, “late- traffic,” she let her partner (who was anxiously awaiting  her arrival at the meeting) know that she was in fact on her way and did not leave him high and dry.  Texting also rids the world of people carrying on loud pointless conversations at a high volume in a public place.  Instead all you hear is the faint clickety clack of the key pad. Texting offers a quieter way of communicating.

        Texting provides an easy way to inform parents of pick up time, an activity practiced by almost all students.  With a simple, “6:30. food? Lota hw,” Ethel lets her mother  know that she is to be picked up at 6:30 and that a plan for dinner should be put into action but one that does not take up too much time because she has far too much homework. 

 Texting can also be a helpful time waster.  Over the summer, Ethel got a job and was very excited.  On her first day she arrived a half an hour early to show that she was ready to go above and beyond.  As it turned out, her boss wasn’t even there yet.  Ethel would have been bored to tears, but instead she was able to text her friend for that thirty precious minutes instead.  Now, you may be asking yourself, “Why didn’t Ethel just call her friend?”  Well, you inquisitive reader, as everyone knows, Ethel’s mom was nervous about how Ethel was doing and kept calling to check in.  If Ethel had been on the phone, her mother would have been nervous as to why her phone was off.  But since she was texting, her mother had no trouble.  As we can see constant textual intercourse has its upsides.

      However, for some, texting has more cons than it does pros. For example, texting has become the main source of communication for many; they have a problem and are labeled, “text addicts.”  For the purposes of this article we will call our text-addict, Johnny.  Johnny carries on two hour long conversations through texting instead of just calling the person and getting it done within twenty minutes.  These long texting conversations, as we all know, often become quite hostile because Johnny is a very sarcastic person and sarcasm is nearly impossible to read in text messaging.  All of Johnny’s friends think that he is just being a big jerk.  A lesson to all: never be sarcastic in a text message-practice safe text.  Texting also prevents any time to actually be alone.  Johnny is the kind of kid that always has his phone on and in his pocket. It is impossible for him to get away from the many who don’t think he is a jerk. Most of these people don’t have anything important to say but are bored and need to feel like they are in contact with someone.  

      Now, there is the third kind of texter that I shall call the textual deviant. Now texting turns ugly.  Textual deviants are the kind of people who will stop mid sentence to check their phone and respond to a text message before picking up where they left off in their current conversation.  Sadly, I am guilty of this; it is a force that comes over you that forces you to rationalize that the person you are texting is more important than the person sitting across from you because the text partner can’t see you and might think “are you ignoring me?”  Pretty ugly, right?

It seems that texting can be the real culprit of the corruption of the minds of teenagers.  We have all seen the commercial in which a young girl is talking to her mother in text language. This is a sad truth.  Spelling and sentence syntax has been negatively affected by the ever present texting lingo.  Things like over abbreviation, shortened phrasing, and loss of more interesting vocabulary are all examples of text disease. Also, teens are finding themselves in groups of people and unable to make eye contact for any extended period. Instead of reaching out a hand for a handshake of hello, they are reaching for a cell phone nestled in the pocket.  Heads tipped, fingers busy, and an occasional “uh huh” is all these teens seems to be able to deliver in a social setting. People are becoming far too textual. 

      Texting has even festered into the souls of students at BCA.  A totally talented and absolutely amiable anonymous theatre sophomore says that, “texting protects my feelings and is very convenient when you want to leave a very short message and avoid long unnecessary conversation.”  Obviously this secretive stunning stallion looks at texting as a useful capability.  

On the other side of the issue, an artfully articulate anonymous adolescent states, in a fit of rage, "To text message, commonly referred to as 'texting,' is an act so utterly absurd that I cannot bring myself, a fine upstanding individual, with morals as pristine as your purple mountain's majesty's, to speak much about it. All I can say is it is simply nothing more than a refuge for those who cannot seem to grin and bear real conversation. It is a refuge for those who fear reality, and that, friends and lovers, is just sad."

      In conclusion, to answer the question, “Is texting a bad thing?” is nearly impossible.  For people like Ethel texting is good.  She gets things done efficiently and is able to keep everyone in the know.  But for text-addicts like Johnny texting is bad.  Johnny’s entire life revolves around responding to that vibration in his pocket. Johnny is losing the practice of human interaction that is a vital quality to have when he becomes a fully functioning adult.  But in the end is texting ultimately an ugly thing? Well, texting can bring happiness and peace of mind to those who use it with a  measure of moderation, but it can also be a disease for those whose compulsive nature can’t resist the hypnotic draw of that split second vibration.