3,300 Shots to the Dome

Nielsen reported last week that U.S. teens average more than 3,300 texts a month. Believe it?

We here at Positively Writing do. Absolutely. One reason we believe is that the same groups' phone conversations dropped 14% during the three-month survey period. How many texts equal a phone call? Who knows, but let's assume "a lot." So that's a partial reason for all those texts.

But do other reasons exist? They must, surely. We think one reason that rarely gets mentioned is a pretty simple one: It's fun. It's cool. Why wouldn't you want to do something cool and fun if you're a teenager?

Lost in our myriad discussions about technology and social media and connecting and community is a very basic human desire: to feel good. Any good therapist will tell you that one of the most important things you can do for yourself is to feel good. Think thoughts and do things (within certain limits) that make you feel good. Your emotional health depends on it. 

So maybe all those texts are a good sign. Maybe they are telling us that teens are demonstrating an innate ability to act in a healthy way. They feel good when they text. So . . .  they text. 

When you were a teenager did you spend hours on the phone discussing . . . pretty much nothing? Most of us did, and if you're incredulous at the Nielsen text numbers you may be disregarding your own equivalent behavior at the same age. 

Sir Ken Robinson, in his TED talks and elsewhere, demonstrates with amazing clarity and logic how we are teaching our kids to be less creative. We hammer them with rules, with scores and grades, and we discourage divergent thinking by telling them there is one right answer. One right answer? Sure, maybe to a math or science problem, but in the social sciences—in life—is that really a good thing to tell a kid? 

Before any of us goes off on a teen-tech bashing spree, let's all remember that our kids, for all the electronic resources at their disposal, have pretty complicated lives they're living. And we might complicate them further by telling them to suppress their instinct to connect with their friends. To grow their circle of friends. To grow.        

Encourage. Be positive. Encourage positive thinking and activity. When you talk with kids. When you talk with colleagues. When you look in the mirror. Seems like a pretty healthy thing to do, don't you think?

We here at Positively Writing suggest that before you cast the first stone, about texting and otherwise, you consider whether you used available technology to connect with your friends—just as teenagers are doing today.