Buzz…Ring…Beep… at the dinner table, during class, on the public bus, near the bustling checkout, in the car. The cell phone is distracting not just to the holder but to everybody else around. For example, I was taking a test and was contemplating the final point for my essay when my cell phone vibrated, and I completed blanked and had trouble finishing the essay. Another time, my family was sitting down for Christmas dinner and my sister’s cell phone gave a faint beep every two minutes and she would quickly respond under the table as if she were unnoticed. And I finally became upset when I was walking down the street and a girl walked into me, because she was typing into her phone instead of watching where she was walking. In a way, I think the cell phone has become just as much of an addition as nicotine. Yet in all of these examples the cell phone is not being used for its number one purpose—talking. Instead, it is being used for text messaging, the newest and most innovative kind of short messaging service (SMS) communication. When we consider current discussions on text messaging using content analysis, the following patterns emerge. First, there is concern among scholars who, with a negative point of view, believe that we as a culture have become too reliant on text messaging. In fact, the common theme that stems from this is the theory that text messaging might be causing social problems such as weak personal skills, a lack of expressing feelings, and public speaking difficulties. Another pattern is how the use of acronyms and emoticons has sort of devalued the context of the English language. Finally, the discussions on text messaging also give insight to why “texting” has become so popular.
