Teen Texting Soars

National Public Radio covers text messaging and why teens rely on it so heavily (Click HERE).

The report finds that 75 percent of teens between the ages of 12 and 17 now have cell phones, up from 45 percent in 2004. And the number who say they text-message daily has shot up to 54 percent from 38 percent in just the past 18 months.

“There’s now an expectation that teens will contact each other via text, and they expect a kind of constant, frequent response,” says the Pew Center’s Amanda Lenhart, one of the study’s authors.

In a post  at DailyTech reports that teen girls average 80 texts sent per day while boys average 30 (Click HERE).

One key reason for the rise in texting among teens is that teens general expect each other to be reachable and to respond to text messages no matter if they are in class or under close watch of parents. One key finding of the study showed that 87% of teen cell phone owners sleep with or next to their phones so they can answer text messages during the night.

The study also found that girls use punctuation in texts and boys tend to forgo punctuation. Study author Scott Campbell said, “If a girl puts a period at the end of a text message (to another girl) then it comes across as she’s mad.” Lenhart added, “They have these practices because they’ve learned that texts can lead to misunderstandings. It’s a deliberate thing and it’s also part of a culture that’s interested in differentiating itself from adult culture.”

The Psych Central blog has a related post entitled New College Addiction? Social Media, Facebook or Friends (Click HERE) that reports on some recent research at the  University of Maryland that found:

…students describe their feelings when they have to abstain from using media in literally the same terms associated with drug and alcohol addictions: in withdrawal, frantically craving, very anxious, extremely antsy, miserable, jittery, and crazy.

….researchers conclude that most college students are not just unwilling, but functionally unable to be without their media links to the world.

As you read these articles I invite you think about the ways in which the issues of urgency, anxiety, immediacy, and impatience play a role in our everyday lives. In what ways does the “need” for instant response and constant connection to others via media act as an idol/ false God that interferes with our relationship with God, and with one another? I invite you to consider what God’s word says about patience:

Patience in general
Love is patient and kind (1 Corinthians 13:4); the fruit of the Spirit is patience (Galatians 5:22); patience is better than pride (Ecclesiastes 7:8); if it were a matter of vicious crime I would have reason to bear with you (Acts 18:14); your comfort when you patiently endure the same sufferings we suffer (2 Corinthians 1:6); for all endurance and patience with joy (Colossians 1:11).

God’s patience
God is slow to anger (Nehemiah 9:17; Ps. 103:8; Ps. 145:8; Joel 2:13; Jonah 4:2; Nahum 1:3); God endured with patience the vessels of wrath (Romans. 9:22); God’s patience waited in the days of Noah (1 Peter 3:20); the Lord is patient towards you (2 Peter 3:9); in me Christ demonstrated his patience (1 Timothy 1:16); the riches of his forbearance and longsuffering (Romans 2:4); in your patience do not take me away (Jeremiah 15:15); consider the Lord’s forbearance as salvation (2 Peter 3:15); for 40 years he put up with them in the wilderness (Acts 13:18).

Be patient!
Put on patience (Colossians 3:12); be patient with everyone (1 Thessalonians 5:14); walk with patience and forbearance in love (Eph. 4:2); be quick to listen, slow to speak, slow to anger (James 1:19); be patient until the Lord’s coming (James 5:7); be patient and I will pay you (Matthew 18:29); be patient and I will pay everything (Matthew 18:26); bear with me (Job 36:2); bear with me in a little foolishness (2 Corinthians 11:1); the Lord’s slave must be patient (2 Timothy 2:24); reprove, rebuke, exhort with all longsuffering and teaching (2 Tim. 4:2); you also be patient (James 5:8); if when you do right and suffer for it you take it patiently, this is approved by God (1 Peter 2:20).
Day, C. A. (2009). Collins Thesaurus of the Bible. Bellingham, WA: Logos Research Systems, Inc.