Is Text Messaging Affecting You?

         My research paper’s topic is about how text messaging can affect people and their relationships. In my survey I chose questions that mostly deal with text messaging. I wanted to see how other people feel about these topics and what their general behavior is in text messaging. I decided that the majority of people who text message are teenagers or young adults, so I surveyed people in a couple of my high school classes.
      One of the questions on the survey was asking if people say things in text messages that they wouldn’t say to a person face to face. I was expecting most people to say yes, but 60 percent of people said no. I asked this question to see if people think they’re being genuine when they text. Another question I asked was if texting affects the ability to talk face to face. The majority said that it doesn’t affect them. When I came up with these questions my general thought was that texting is degrading the quality of how we communicate. After administering this survey I think it’s possible that technology is improving our communication instead.
      One of my other questions was asking if people flirt though texting. I asked this to see how common it is for people to use technology for relationships. About 80 percent said they do use texting to flirt. I also asked if people had broken up with someone through a text. I was relieved to find that over 90 percent had not. My last question asked if people had ever met someone through technology before meeting them face to face. About 75 percent said yes because of Facebook and other social networking sites.
          I think this survey was good for me to do. I expected everyone to think the same way I do on these topics but they don’t. I helped me to realize that I need to get out there and hear what other people are saying. This survey will be useful in my research paper to help convey the “they say.”

The Interview

                                  
         My research topic is about how text messaging can affect relationships. I decided that the majority of people who are most affected by text messaging are teenagers. I interviewed one of my friends, Marissa Lundeen. I knew that she would have some real life experiences that could be very useful in my paper.
    One of the stories she told me was about how text messaging and other technology has affected common courtesy. A boy had asked her on a date and she was very excited to go. She really liked this boy and respected him. When he came to pick her up, instead of going to the door to get her, he just sent her a text telling her he was there. She was very disappointed when he did this. It made her feel like she wasn’t even worth the effort of walking to the door and knocking.
    She also talked about how text messaging can portray people differently than how they really are. She said that boys have often said flirty and romantic things to her that they would never have the guts to say in real life. When it’s through a text it doesn’t seem nearly as sincere, especially if the person acts much different face to face. It can also cause some awkward moments when the boy and girl see each other face to face.
    Another thing she mentioned is that text messaging can make having intelligent face to face conversations difficult. Many teenagers would much rather text someone than have to actually talk to them. It’s easier because you have time to think about what you’re going to say and to make sure you won’t say something that might embarrass you.
    I think this was a very useful interview. I will probably use some of the personal stories she told. I think it was good to have someone else’s point of view that is affected by this in my paper.