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ashleyxx3

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  1. “Rofl.” “LOL.” These acronyms are used every day by teenagers. What happened to laughing? Incase you did not know already, ‘Rofl’ stands for rolling on the floor laughing, and ‘LOL’ stands for laughing out loud. If something is funny most teenagers will text these acronyms but these acronyms are now being used in teen’s everyday social lives. Teenagers have their cell phones always attached to them in some way, constantly texting. This is changing the way teenagers are communicating face to face. What happened to talking in person and actually showing emotion rather than show it through words? Texting is not only an easy way to communicate quickly with others however, this could change the way teens communicate face to face, taking over their social skills. When texting; teens act as if it is a way to hide behind their cell phone. If a teen does not know what to say to the person they are texting they can wait and think about what they want to say, rather than in person if they are talking with someone, they have to answer right away, face to face. “Children no longer talk to each other, even if they are in the same room. They text message” (Wheeler). Teens and children are texting because they grew up with cell phone technology. This is also caused by their parents. Teenagers communicate with their parents through texting asking how their day was, where they are, and when they will be home. “Adults are almost as guilty. They model this behavior by communicating with their children through text messaging. Parents fail to have those crucial conversations with their children face to face; instead they think that their guidance is better received through the medium that children like to use” (Wheeler). Most parents these days feel they should continue to grow up through their children and teens. When teenager’s parents are texting them each day it is slowly causing them to learn that it is easier to communicate with their parents through cellular devices. But what parents do not know is that teens could be texting back something completely untrue when their parents ask them where they are. Texting is making it easier for teens to do what they want without their parents knowing. For example in the article titled Texting Affects Communication Skills it stated “Additionally, parents mistakenly believe that they are in better contact with their children when the children respond to their messages. For example, ‘Where r u?’ and the child responds, ‘I am in school being tutored.’ Yeah, right!” (Wheeler). Some parents feel that cell phones are over used by teens so as a punishment they will take their cell phones away, leaving them with no way of communication with “the outside world.” “Many parents surveyed – 62 percent – say they’ve taken away their child’s cell phone as a punishment, though Lenhart says this can backfire: Parents often give children cell phones to keep track of their whereabouts, and don’t like giving up easy access” (Ludden). This proves that teens can easily text what they want and their parents will believe what they are saying just because they quickly respond through a text message. Parents are a main cause to the reason why teens in this generation are lacking communication skills. If parents took away their cell phones or picked the phone up and called them, they would have something to talk about rather than a quick short text message. Parents are not able to hear their children’s voice through a text message. When talking to their child face to face, or over the phone they can hear it in their voice or see it on their face, if they’re lying or not. Teens are losing the normal communication skills by picking up the phone and calling, or talking face to face. Teens will text anyone just to have a conversation running; they think it is “fun.” Texting is changing the way most teenagers communicate with others. For example, a teen may be having a wonderful conversation with a good friend through texting. They are constantly texting this person, but when it comes time to actually making plans and hanging out they have nothing to talk about because the teenagers either were texting to much or truly have nothing in common. While texting, majority of teens use acronyms such as “LOL,” “ROFL,” and “Lawl” to show an emotion of laughing at what someone said, even if it really wasn’t all that funny. In the article Texting affects communication, Danielle Diehl states, “I’ve even had the honor of coming across people who instead of laughing would say ROFL or LOL. I tried to ignore it, but what happened to actually laughing? The person was standing in front of me and just saying the acronym. It was robotic and it felt depressing that this is what conversation has come to” (Diehl). All this texting is causing many teens to lose the normal communication skills by actually showing and expressing their emotions rather than when they text a smiley face or say acronyms to show they are “laughing.” They could be hiding their emotions through the cell phone and act a different way than they actually feel. This also relates to teens not wanting to face their actual problems. If they are having a problem with a friend they do not want to actually face what is going on so they will hide behind their cell phone to solve a problem, through texting. “As in Pew focus groups, the teens admit they use texting to avoid confrontation or uncomfortable situations” (Ludden). If teens keep avoiding confrontations and go to their cell phone to text about it, they will never learn how to actually talk and solve a situation in person. This will cause teens to become shy and not want to face others. Teens feel it is just faster and easier to text rather than to talk to someone in person or to pick up the phone and call them. This is changing the way teens communicate with each other. Lastly, texting changes the way teens are writing and speaking. This in the long run, will affect the way they are socializing with others. “What about the use of English language? One would think the use of abbreviations, short messages and incomplete sentences could lead to sloppy language skills” (Kathpalia). Short text messages back and forth to others will lead to teens speaking with short sentences causing the conversations to come to a minimum. If teens are constantly texting with incorrect spelling they will spell words wrong in school. Teens always want the easy way out with talking and communicating, so by texting they feel they can talk to anyone in a quick and easy way without meeting up with them and talking face to face. Communication skills amongst teens are slowing dying down. Teenagers do not realize how they are changing the way they speak and communicate with others. As I have said before, teens always want the easy way out. Teen’s parents are also a big part of why communication skills are slowly dying down. Parents can easily talk face to face with their children teaching them normal communication skills rather than texting them simple questions, as to where they are and who they are with. Texting is something used by all generations now a days. Texting cannot be changed, and everyone will always continue to text but texting can be taken down to a minimum so that communication skills can become stronger. Teens need to learn to talk face to face. Diehl, Danielle. "Texting Affects Communication - Daily American." Featured Articles From Daily American. 05 May 2010. Web. 01 June 2011. Kathpalia, Anumpan. "The Effects of Text Messaging." Enzine Articles. 7 Jan. 2010. Web. 1 June 2011. \ Ludden, Jennifer. "Teen Texting Soars; Will Social Skills Suffer? : NPR." NPR : National Public Radio : News & Analysis, World, US, Music & Arts : NPR. 20 Apr. 2010. Web. 01 June 2011. Wheeler, Barbara A. "Texting Affects Communication Skills." Kent County Public Schools. 2010. Web. 01 June 2011.
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