Learning 2 Live with Texting
Contributed by: BNetSavvy
All of a sudden it’s everywhere in the media – texting. On TV, in the papers, the advice columns, even in the comics, people are talking about texting. Every other day I encounter a story about how texting is changing the way people work and socialize. And the more I hear, the grumpier I get.
Because I, the new editor of bNetS@vvy, do not text, have never texted, and cannot fully grasp why texting is all the rage. I’m a non-texter in a texting world, which is to say I am a dinosaur. I’m a mother, a teacher, and a grumpy dinosaur. And I know that if I want to avoid parental and professional extinction; if I want to help children connect safely, I am going 2 have 2 chng my wAz (change my ways). You know, get jiggy down with this texting thing – OK, so I’m not exactly hip with the cool tech lingo. But I’m trying. And oh boy, could I use some 411.
TG (thank goodness) that’s just what this issue offers. Internet safety expert Jace Shoemaker-Galloway gives an overview of how texting works, complete with “text speak” examples, and a list of benefits and drawbacks regarding the general use of texting. Children’s health expert Dr. Donald Shifrin, of the American Academy of Pediatrics, offers specific advice about how to manage children’s texting activity.
In our teacher’s piece, Fairfax County, Virginia high school teacher Allison Cohen goes directly to her students to ask about teen texting behavior at school and at home. Switching perspectives, our Parents’ Corner features first-person accounts from several parents about how texting has affected their family lives – and what strategies they’ve used to encourage safe and responsible texting.
Rounding out the issue is information from a “professional texter” – a teen who discusses why she loves to text and how adults can help young teens be “text savvy.”
Keep in mind that phoning and texting aren’t the only things tweens and teens are doing with their wireless phones – “sexting,” the practice of circulating inappropriate (often sexual) photos and messages via wireless phone, is on the rise as well. To help you address this and other unfortunate realities, please view the general wireless phone safety tips for you to discuss with your child/student.
