Texting Problems

I recently read an article from NY Times, by Katie Hafner, called "Texting May Be Taking A Toll." It expains the problems with texting and how it can affect texters. In recent years, the number of texts that have been being sent and recieved have been very high. According to the article, in 2008, the number of texts being recieved and sent a month was 2,272. That's a lot of texting. Most people who text do not think about how it can affect them and what the bad things about texting are. Psychologists and physicians are begining to worry about the health affects and the other problems. So what is the problem with texting?

It was found that texting causes problems such as anxiety, loss of concentration in school, loss of sleep, failing grades, and stress. Loss of sleep is a big part of texting problems. Teenagers will usually stay up late texting and talking to their friends while they should really be getting good sleep. Then they go to school and sometimes it can be very hard to concentrate while trying to stay awake because they did not get good sleep. Not only that, when people text in class, they are missing out on learning and if it gets to the point where the student is not paying attention most of the time, it can result in failing grades. Texting can also cause temporary or permanent damage to your thumbs. Even thought phones are banned in most schools, students know how to get away with texting everyday in class. Most of the time, teachers don't notice, so they just keep doing it.

I think it is very hard to concentrate while texting. Most of the time while doing my homework, I have my phone right next to me. Whenever I hear it buzz, I stop doing my homework and reply. I have seen people text in class because it happens all the time and nobody really minds. Although I agree with the article on how texting can have negative affects, I do not think that texting can cause all these health problems and be the main cause of stress and failing grades, etc. I do not belive that texting in class could be stopped just because the number is so large and also it is hard to limit texting in general. I was curious as to how texting can damage our thumbs too.

It is very important to stay focused and on task and not let things like texting stop us from doing what we are supposed to. Although texting is a way of communication, it can also have negative affects on teenagers. Maybe some teenagers will realize how texting can be harmful in different ways. Loss of sleep, loss of concentration, failing grades, stress and anxiety can all be from texting. So maybe texting isn't all that good.

Bad Influences

In the book Art Geeks & Prom Queens there are two people who influence the protagonist Rio. Rio is a shy, sort of nerdy girl when she moves to her new highschool. She wears worn out clothes because thats what she feels comfortable in them. She doesn't try too hard, in fact she does not care of what people think of her.She makes friends on the first day of school. But when she meets Kristi, the typical snobby, self centered popular highschool, things start to change and Rio becomes a different person. Kristi is not really a posative influence on Rio. Although she get Rio to step out of her comfort zone, she turns into a whole new person. Rio's character goes through many changes in the book because of Kristi.

Kristi basically controls every action that Rio makes. She cannot be seen with certain people, she cannot wear certain things, she has to act a certain way all because Kristi tells her to. Rio has to act almost fake and perfect all the time around Kristi just to keep her good impression and friendship. Now that Rio is Kriti's friend, every girl and boy in the school want to be friends with her. She went from having 2 friends in the school to having everyone in the school as her friend. Kristi makes her feel a bit uncomfortable with herself. When Kristi asks her if she wants some drugs, even though she has never done it, Rio does it just because Kristi did. And then it became sort of her thing and Rio does it when she feels down. Rio begins to do things she would never do before she met Kristi.

Although Kristi may have a mostly negative influence on Rio, she also helps her socially. Kristi teaches Rio to be open with people. If it weren't for Kristi, Rio might have still been the shy girl who made no friends. Rio learned a lot of new things because of Kristi. Even if she did something bad, she knew in the future not to do that. Rio also enjoyed having fun and not being in her shell at the time and she had someone to tell things to. Rio could care less if she was popular and when she became popular, it gave her a whole new view on people and their personalities.

I think Rio learned a lot from being friends with Kristi. She learned the difference between are real friend and a fake friend and the reality of the highschool cycle. Even though Kristi might have taken Rio out of her comfort zone a bit too much, it was worth the experience of being her friend and realizing the things she did.  For a while, Rio was not being herself because Kristi was forcing her to be someone who she wasn't.