Walking down the street these days, the technology takeover can be seen in the hands of everyone. Cell phones. No technology has been as successful and popular as the cell phone. The first cell phone was created by Motorola on April 3, 1973. It was only able to place a call though, for thirty minutes. Then it had to be re-charged for ten hours. It weighed approximately 2.5 pounds and measured in at a whopping nine inches long. Our handheld devices have metamorphosed drastically over a short period of time. The first text message was sent on December 3, 1992. It wasn't called a "text" at the time though, it was known as SMS (Short Message Service). In the beginning, it was slow to be picked up by the public, but now eighty percent of people in the United States text. Even though it originally was known as SHORT Message Service, after 1996, when it became a commercial service it turn into a way to carry on full conversations, replacing verbal conversations.
The positives of text messaging have led to it becoming one of the most popular - if not the most popular - forms of communication. It certainly makes communicating simpler. If a person is in a location where it is inconvenient to actually speak, texting can be very convenient. Students can use it to send their parents a message about being picked up from school, and at what time. It is instant communication, no matter the distance between people. It also allows people to speak to more people at once, when a phone call usually only allows a one-on-one conversation to be held. Teenagers pretty much have access to their friends twenty-four hours a day, seven days a week.
While there are positives of texting, the negatives seem to outweigh them. There is much debate over whether it affects students writing habits. Students have been reported to use "text language" when writing in school. Several researches say that it is not negative though, that it actually helps with the memory students have. Text messaging take up attention, in class, around family, while driving. Students, since the creation of the text, have used it for cheating in class. Even if they do not cheat, countless students still text in class. Taking a students attention away from their class, their education, certainly makes cell phones a nuisance. Many parents have been annoyed with their children, and vice versa, when they are too busy texting to have an actual conversation with each other. There are fewer personal conversations with parents and as a result the relationship is affected negatively. And there is no excuse for texting while driving. This just shows obsession and impatience; it causes unnecessary injuries and deaths every single day. Some people who text boast about how they can walk, talk to friends, and text at the same time. It is a shortcut, creating more time for other things, but it is a treacherous shortcut that is better not taken. This kind of irresponsibility exemplifies the lack of concentration that is necessary; students do not apply themselves fully in class and drivers do not focus on driving, the only thing they need to be doing while in a moving car.
Text messaging would not be so dangerous if people could recognize the proper time for it. It has a time and a place like everything else. It does not need to take up time in class, replace actual conversation, or take concentration off of driving. There are a few positives to texting, but in the end, the negatives do outweigh the positives. Honestly, it is just not worth it, someone being a danger to themselves, and also a danger to everyone else.