Statistics from the Pew Internet & American Life Project show that, these days, many people with cell phones prefer texting over a phone call. It\u2019s not always young people, though the data indicate that the younger you are, the more likely you are to prefer texting.<\/p>\n
And that\u2019s creating a communication divide, of sorts \u2013 the talkers vs. the texters.<\/p>\n
Some would argue that it\u2019s no big deal. What difference should it make how we communicate, as long as we do so?<\/p>\n
But many experts say the most successful communicators will, of course, have the ability to do both, talk or text, and know the most appropriate times to use those skills. And they fear that more of us are losing our ability to have \u2013 or at least are avoiding \u2013 the traditional face-to-face conversations that are vital in the workplace and personal relationships.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt is an art that\u2019s becoming as valuable as good writing,\u201d says Janet Sternberg, a professor of communication and media studies at Fordham University in New York who is also a linguist.<\/p>\n
In the most extreme cases, she\u2019s noticed that more students don\u2019t look her in the eye and have trouble with the basics of direct conversation \u2013 habits that, she says, will not serve them well as they enter a world where many of their elders still expect an in-person conversation, or at the very least a phone call.<\/p>\n
On today\u2019s college campuses, the dynamic is often different. Forget about things like \u201coffice hours,\u201d for instance. Many professors say they rarely see students outside of class.<\/p>\n
\u201cI sit in my office hours lonely now because if students have a question, they email, often late at night,\u201d says Renee Houston, an associate professor of communication studies at the University of Puget Sound in Washington state.<\/p>\n
\u201cAnd they never call, ever.\u201d<\/p>\n
She recalls overhearing students chuckling about the way people older than them communicate.<\/p>\n
\u201cMy parents left me a VOICEMAIL. Can you believe it?\u201d one said, as if voicemail had gone the way of the dinosaurs.<\/p>\n
This doesn\u2019t sound surprising or particularly troublesome to Lisa Auster-Gussman, who\u2019ll be a senior this fall at the University of Richmond in Virginia. For her, there are simply particular tools she uses to communicate, depending on the recipient.<\/p>\n
Email is for professors, yes. Phone calls and maybe the occasional text are for parents, if the parents know how to do the latter.<\/p>\n
\u201cBut I don\u2019t communicate much with older people. So much of my life is set up over text,\u201d says Auster-Gussman, who sends and receives an average of about 6,000 text messages a month.<\/p>\n
\u00a0<\/p><\/blockquote>\n<\/body><\/html>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
What about you? Do you prefer a text message or a phone call? Or an e-mail? Be honest, and now we need to ask: What difference does it make? From AP: Statistics from the Pew Internet & American Life Project show that, these days, many people with cell phones prefer texting over a phone call. […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":197,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-28912","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"yoast_head":"\n
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