Texting: Does it Hinder or Enhance?

BY AMBER JADUS
SC Contributing Writer

 
Love is a bizarre concept with no real explanation, and relationships constantly evolve and grow.

Technology has brought loved ones closer together than ever before.

When your significant other is far away, you can video chat, and it will feel like you are speaking face to face. If you are currently busy, you can text one another the entire time. You can spend your entire day together without ever being nearby.

Is technology really necessary to maintain a lasting relationship, or is it just used to substitute real communication? Studies are underway to figure this out.

A study was done by Brigham Young University researchers Lori Schade and Jonathan Sandberg on 276 young adults around the country to see how texting influenced their relationships. A small study was done at East Stroudsburg University to see what the students here thought about texting in relationships.

Almost everyone believes that texting is necessary to stay updated on their significant other’s lives, especially when they are far away at college.

Long distance relationships used to be nearly impossible, but with today’s technology, it has become almost effortless to be away from one another.

You can be up to date on everything the other person does throughout their day. It is such an easy way to communicate whenever and wherever. Many couples feel their relationship would not have lasted without technology. They feel that without it, they would be disconnected, and it would feel like the other person has forgotten about them.

There are a few people in East Stroudsburg that feel differently. Some believe that texting can ruin relationships.

When someone constantly texts a person that they are not with, they forget to participate in the things happening around them.

Everyone knows that person with their nose constantly in their phone. It is hard to get close to a person who focuses more on their phone than on the conversation you are trying to hold with them.

Texting a person is also nothing like actually talking to a person.

Some students here feel that texting is not real communication because no emotion is involved. It is hard to understand what someone is trying to say through a text message.

Texting can help a relationship, but it should not be the only source of communication. It is important to talk to one another face to face to hold a healthy, happy relationship.

Do not get so absorbed in texting someone from back home that it affects your ability to make new friends in college. Your friends and your social skills will thank you if you pick head up from your phone every now and again.

Email Amber at:
ajadus@live.esu.edu