Texting Is A Distraction
New research reveals some very interesting facts about text messaging among teens in the U.S. and some of the numbers are staggering. According to the study by the Pew Internet and American Life Project, the average girl sends 80 texts per day (30 for boys) and 87% of teens say they sleep with or near their cell phones.
All of this texting certainly raises serious concerns. Texting and driving, sexting, texting during class, the invasion of texting into academic work, and the complete destruction of the English language are certainly legitimate concerns (though that last one is an exaggeration in my opinion), but I am concerned about a couple of other issues. I want to write about one of those issues today.
The Myth of Multi-Tasking
If you are like me you have grown very attached to at least one personal computing device. These devices – computers, smartphones, even our televisions – have the ability to do more than one thing at a time. They are literally “wired” to work that way.
Unfortunately, our minds do not appear to be wired that way. I’m sure the subconscious mind has a way of thinking of solutions to problems while we focus on other things which is probably why people have learned to “sleep on” things, but I am referring to something else. Most of us have tried to imitate computers by attempting to focus on more than one task at a time. This, I think, is a huge mistake.
Others have written about and discussed this subject, but the point I’d like to make today is that texting is another attempt to multi-task (in some cases). There is nothing wrong with having a conversation with someone via texting but it is another thing to send and respond to text messages all day long while attempting to focus on other things.
Frankly, the sheer amount of time spent texting scares me a little. Many of us don’t realize how much of our time is wasted in the physical act of stopping to text, followed by texting itself, followed by switching back to what we were doing – just in time to receive a reply. Sending 80 texts per day is bound to consume more time than it is worth.
More importantly, we are constantly drawing our attention away from something else we should be doing. It is not so much about which task is more important. I have no doubt that sometimes the thing I should be doing is texting but sometimes I should be doing something else – and NOT texting (or doing anything else). While trying to write this very short piece I was distracted by text messages more than a dozen times.