The Family That Texts Together...

from the chats-together dept

Mon, Oct 20th 2008 1:49am — Mike Masnick

There's been a perception among some, that the introduction of certain technologies into the household has made it more difficult for families to communicate. For example, some have complained that kids with mobile phones use them to spend all their time talking to and texting with friends, rather than with their family. However, some new research notes that this is mostly a myth, and families that have mobile phones tend to use them to communicate with each other quite a bit. Of course, now we'll hear people complaining about how this constant contact makes it impossible for kids to make decisions on their own. There's always something to complain about. And, to be fair, not all of the study suggests that all this communicating is a good thing. While people do communicate more with their family members, they're not as satisfied with family leisure time as those who aren't as technology-enabled.

Thank you for reading this Techdirt post. With so many things competing for everyone’s attention these days, we really appreciate you giving us your time. We work hard every day to put quality content out there for our community.

Techdirt is one of the few remaining truly independent media outlets. We do not have a giant corporation behind us, and we rely heavily on our community to support us, in an age when advertisers are increasingly uninterested in sponsoring small, independent sites — especially a site like ours that is unwilling to pull punches in its reporting and analysis.

While other websites have resorted to paywalls, registration requirements, and increasingly annoying/intrusive advertising, we have always kept Techdirt open and available to anyone. But in order to continue doing so, we need your support. We offer a variety of ways for our readers to support us, from direct donations to special subscriptions and cool merchandise — and every little bit helps. Thank you.

–The Techdirt Team

Filed Under: communications, family, kids, texting

9 Comments

If you liked this post, you may also be interested in...

Reader Comments

Subscribe: RSS

View by: Time | Thread

some Canadian, 20 Oct 2008 @ 5:08am

Family of texters
I am frustrated when my face to face communications with my children are interrupted by the buzz of their mobile phone. I have also found that I must remove their mobile phones when they go to bed or their sleep will be interrupted by the buzz of the phone. But I do find that the mobile phones makes it much easier to get in touch with my children when they are out of the house and we do use text messages to communicate. But can you really have a meaningful communication by SMS???
[ link to this | view in thread ]
Anonymous Coward, 20 Oct 2008 @ 5:28am

Re: Family of texters
Yes, you can have meaningful communication by SMS. Just like you can with a pen pal, be it snail mail or e-mail.

The operative phrase is communication, which texting is. The keyword is meaningful, which is based solely on your relationship with the person in question.
[ link to this | view in thread ]
Potato Head, 20 Oct 2008 @ 7:11am

Re: Family of texters
I was going to rip you being dumb, but then I saw your Canadian. You just can not help it!

Meaningful? I hate to echo the last post, but how can it not be meaningful? Obviously someone sending a message has put meaning behind the words. Weather it be the words them selves or the context, there are meaningful or full of meaning.

Let the rest of the dumb asses get too it!
[ link to this | view in thread ]
Dallas Dad, 20 Oct 2008 @ 7:18am

My daughter is 16 and driving. I consider the "Where are you?" -- "Mall" exchanges between her and her mother *very* meaningful.
[ link to this | view in thread ]
MomofSix, 20 Oct 2008 @ 7:43am

texting and teens
My kids are expert texters - I am not. But we text frequently. I love being able to get in touch with them (Like Dallas Dad said) whenever and wherever they are, and I can even text them when they're in class or something and they can call me later, remind them they have a dentist appointment or something like that. They also will text me when they're bored. My kids and I were pretty close before texting - but texting definitely adds to the communication, which is usually an asset to any relationship. As far as I'm concerned, any contact I have with my kids is valuable!
[ link to this | view in thread ]
Anonymous Coward, 20 Oct 2008 @ 7:49am

I agree with "some Canadian" that SMS is no replacement for a meaningful conversation. (I find it sad that people are too dense to appreciate this sentiment.)

@Potato Head: If you're going to "rip being dumb" you should first learn the difference between the words 'your' and 'you're'. Once you understand the difference, move on to the words 'to', 'too', and 'two'.

@Dallas Dad: Important and meaningful are different.
[ link to this | view in thread ]
Potato Head, 20 Oct 2008 @ 8:55am

Re: tsk tsk
You can grade my grammar, but can not seem to be creative enough to use something other than Anonymous. Your is a pronoun and you're is a contraction of the words you and are.
[ link to this | view in thread ]
Potato Head, 20 Oct 2008 @ 8:58am

Re:
I think you're Canadian too. What are you going to do though, two of two dumb Canadians.
[ link to this | view in thread ]
Johnny Canada, 20 Oct 2008 @ 3:03pm

I two am a dumb Canadian.

But at least we make the place colourful.
[ link to this | view in thread ]