The phrase “for better or for worse” is ringing in my ears.
That’s exactly what this communication tool is – and as you said so well,” Like all applications of the new media, texting is only as good or as bad as who is texting, why, and — especially for this application — when.”

Sexting? I can’t even comment. May God help our kids and teens know how valuable they are so this does not become a need for them.

Good job, Jim

its absolutely tragic to hear stories about deaths due to distractions. I know that this accident is definitely not the only one that occurs nearly everyday. I just recently read an article about a seventeen boy who killed a mother and her two small children becuase he was texting while driving and ran head on into the women’s car. You never know when something that seems to small and harmless, such as texting, can change your life forever. It is a dangerous thought to consider and I would assume that it is something that people have the mentality that it “won’t ever happen to me.” The reality though is that texting has become such a mainstream form of communciation that people are texting and checking their email on thier blackberry’s nearly anywhere at anytime, regardless of what they are doing.
I would assume that the new sources of techonolgy and communication such as texting, im’ing and facebook is having a huge effect on teenagers. I know that “sexting” is not unusual and it is very scary because now it is simply making scary and risky situations too easy. Before “sexting” it would be difficult for a boyfriend/exboyfriend or girlfriend to get their hands on inapproiate written text or pictures from the opposite sex but now with everything avaibale on our phones…someone’s self esteem, repuation, self image could be shattered in the matter of seconds. Very sad and dissapointing and I just pray and hope that there will be glimpes of light and hope for the young kids who have sadly been put in this situation.

The teens of today are so focused on anything but reality. They think that nothing could happen to them. They hear stories everyday about serious incidents that happen because of some kind of electronic, but shrug it off as if it is no big deal. In high school, I was involved in a program called I-Mentor. I took a course on internet saftey and then went to the local schools and taught it to them. In our presentation we included sexting, because it seemed as though no one has ever heard of it before. All of the students were shocked that this was a serious felon, but when we were at the high schools presenting, they just shrugged it off as if it were no big deal. It seems that as the teens get older they get this notion in their head that they are indestructible. I knew some girls in my own high school that sent around nude pictures, but continued to do so! It is amazing to me how we are so into our cyber lives that we lose touch with reality! It is so sad. Something is going to have to wake up the teens and it is going to take a lot more than news stories to do it.

I must admit, I am guilty of texting while driving. It is sad to say but on a few occassions, I have either sent a new text message or responded to someone else’s while behind the wheel. Usually, I am at a red light or sitting in traffic. But I learned my lesson last month when I had a fender bender. While it was bumper to bumper traffic on the freeway, I was reading a text that had come through and unfortunately once the traffic moved, I did not stop in time to miss the tail of the car in front of me. I ended up paying nearly $1000 to repair his car, which put my family in a financial whole. And that was the last of texting while driving for me.
And as far as “sexting”, it is quite sad that these teenagers are exploiting each other in this way, I mean to the point of causing two girls to end their life is just heart-wrenching to me.

It’s so interesting when you take the time to reflect on how far our society has come. I mean could you imagine what someone from the 1920s coming to 2010 would think about our society today? I can just see them fainting now! Technology has allowed us keys to so many unknowns in the past 20 years or so but with every door opened there will always be some unimaginable devistation to follow. Texting is for sure a 20th century teenagers greatest friend. And by this I mean that we have such easy access to all these different technological creations that we often spend more time with technology than we do exploring the pleasures of the real, living, world.

I am just as guilty as any when it comes to spending too much time on technology but what I’m saying is that I can recognize that too much can do a great damage. Look at what your article has found, that this generation values impersonal communication more than we value a human life. Although some may disagree, look at the facts. The fact is that we have all been informed on the dangers of texting and driving, we have all seen or heard the severity of such accidents, but when push comes to shove we still choose texting. It is a sad reality, but I feel that the first step to overcoming such an obstacle is realizing how far we have come and taking steps to balance ourselves out

When the Los Angeles Metro-link collision occurred back in 2008, I remember thinking to myself, “Texting and driving had been a huge deal before, but never has it been this deadly.” Since that incident, I recall reading about plenty of tragedies like so in the paper, seeing numerous ‘Do not text and drive billboards, and watching many talk shows develop the theme of ‘consequences of texting and driving’ for the day. Yet, as dangerous and serious as a topic like texting and driving, the number of tickets given out yearly to drivers who text and the number of fatalities due to texting have continued to increase. Even after all the many situations, these tragedies have yet to stop citizens from texting while driving when you think it would have by now. To just what measure will it take for people to learn to not text and drive? As sad as it seems, it most likely will not be until they get ticketed doing so or it becomes to late.

I can totally agree with the idea of texting can be something dangerous, because people have died in car accidents due to texting.I think that the driver of the train was just not being smart because he does no realize it but all the people on that train their lives were in his hands. That was not smart of the driver of the train. The girls that killed themselves due to sexting also not smart, most people know you do not just take pictures of yourself and send it to anyone because these days you can not trust many people. I feel that texting is a good way of communication when it is used at the right time and place.

I think that technology is a wonderful tool for today’s quick moving society, however technology can be bad when people choose to use it improperly. Just like anything in this world we have a choice to use things wisely or unwisely and it is always sad to hear when people’s immature choices end up hurting innocent people in the process. This blog reminds me of a Dr. Phil show I watched a few weeks ago and there was a story of a mother who would not stop texting and using her phone that she would drive while texting and her daughters felt neglected. She would spend hours on Facebook and hours texting and hardely any time with her daughters. There is no need for us to be so consumed with our phones that we don’t enjoy the world around us. We lack face to face communication these days and I think that it hurts us in the long run. People aren’t learning how to be socially confident or how to interact well among other people because of the obsession with cell phones. Lastly, this blog reminded me of the movie Wall-E when all of the people in the spaceship were living in a virtual reality and had no idea of what was around them. Once tragic events started to happen on the ship the people soon realized that there was more to life than sitting in a chair consumed with a virtual world. I hope that our world never comes to this, that we make sure to use our cell phones wisely and sparingly, and that we never forget to enjoy God’s beauty around us and the people surrounding our lives.

You would think that it would have been common sense to know not to text why operating any type of moving vehicle especially when other people’s lives are in your hands. The train accident was so unnecessary and easily avoidable if the conductor practiced more self discipline and better judgment. I have seen on many talk shows such as Oprah, Tyra, and Dr. Phil the same topic being discussed, sexting. It’s so sad to hear the stories of these young children who are mostly females. Sexting is a bigger issue than many people recognize it to be.

Texting has turned from a way of communicating, into a major cause of death. I have heard many stories of people dieing due to texting while operating a vehicle. This is such a tragedy. If someone wants to text and take there life, they should not put someones life in danger because of that. I think that the driver of the train was very selfish and not smart at all. I believe people like that should not be allowed to even have cell phones with them during there job as a train driver. He has peoples lifes in his hand and due to his lack of knowing right from wrong he took the lives of many innocent people. As for girls abusing the privilage of texting or “Sexting”. I believe that there should be some type of censoring that the cellphone providers can do to keep young teens from “sexting”. It makes me sad how people abuse the privilage of technology.

Throughout this whole article I could recalled a specific instance where I learned about the dangers of texting. I have this friend, and she always texts in while driving her car. I always tell her that she could wait to answer, but its like she is automatically programmed to answer as soon as she hears the sound of an incoming message. Well one time I was in the car with her and she made a sudden stop because she was not concentrating on driving. The point is the I hit my knee really bad on her dash board. I got the ugliest bruise, and all because she decides to text while driving. Needless to say I am not her passenger anymore, because she still does it. I do not understand how some people will put their lives at risk to reply to a text message. Its not that important.
About sexting as a parent myself. This makes me very scared. I just do not know where society is going to be headed if this is the point were we are now. I guess the only thing left to do is to have very open communication with those adolescents around us.
I do believe that texting is a great tool to use at the appropriate time and place, and in a correct manner.

It’s so sad that it has come to this. Texting really can become tragic, obviously, its seen in places like this.

I find the temptation to send a text message when I am driving all the time. My phone is just sitting there in the cup holder, lighting up. Its so hard to not respond. I normally wait for red lights or when there is heavy traffic. Regardless, this does not make texting acceptable. It can and will end lives. Seeing things like this is an important reminder for us in the “texting generation” to put our phones down. They can wait until later….

Like all forms of technology, its no surprise that texting has its faults. Sure, it is the most convenient form of communication, but it sure has its pitfalls too. To be honest, I do text while driving on occasion knowing full well how dangerous it is. I try not to give in and check my phone when I hear that text alert sound, but I rarely overcome my curiosity. In addition to the physical dangers of texting, I’ve been wary of the emotional dangers since the medium was first created.
These days it seems every junior high kid, and sometimes even elementary aged kids have a cell phone with texting capabilities. As I can recall, junior high was dramatic enough without adding an additional way for kids to bully each other in a non face-to-face way. The biggest form of bullying when I was in junior high came from instant messaging online. This was bad enough, but at least it couldn’t go on at school and most parents regulated computer usage with their kids. However, texting can be done at any time of the day for as much as the kids want and I can only imagine what kind of hell that causes. Young kids (particularly girls) are all about fighting in any way possible other than face-to-face. Thus, it seems like texting just gives kids more ways to hurt each other.
I had never heard of the term “sexting” until a few months ago. This too seems like another easy way for kids to get hurt. Kids are impressionable and curious, I can see how it wouldn’t be difficult for any kid to be talked into sexting by another curious kid. The whole thing just makes me really sad because it is just adding another element for kids to worry about and be pressured into. Those poor kids growing up right now will be lucky to make it through junior high and high school without ever getting hurt by the dangerous side of texting. And I thought things were complicated when I was a kid.

This blog deeply saddens me. I cannot believe someone would be texting while operating a HUGE piece of machine with hundreds of people on it. I will admit I often text while driving but I am trying to make it less of a habit. I definitely do not text while I am at work. If my job involved driving people around, i.e., a taxi cab driver, bus driver, etc. I would never be texting. Not only could I potentially lose my job, but I also could injure or even kill many people. It is hard to believe that engineer could be so irresponsible. It is also hard to believe that the high school boy would send the picture of his ex-girlfriend to other people. However, the girl still is partially at fault because she sent the boyfriend the picture. In today’s world, you cannot send anything across the Internet and not expect another party to view it. People need to be less trusting, unfortunately, in today’s world.

I think texting is just another example that people can misuse any form of media. I think it is highly unfortunate how our youth adults has misused this medium. The train wreck was a terrible reaction of how distracted we can become, and how sometimes technology can make us oblivious to the rest of the world around us.

As you mentioned, this is a very negative side to texting, and it makes it all out to look bad. However, as you also said, there is a much lighter side to texting as well. But when you read statistics such as the suicides and the train wreck, it makes you wonder if the texting is all worth it. I’m sure that those who developed texting never imagined it would be the cause of hundreds of thousands of deaths. Nevertheless, I think that texting is all in responsibility. If the person who is texting only texts when it is appropriate and safe, there is no harm done by the text. However, while doing other activities, such as driving a car, it is completely unsafe. I think that we as humans have the instinct to know the difference between what is right and what is wrong. Yet many people continually put themselves in dangerous situations with texting because they think “it won’t be them.” We all need to take a step back and understand that although texting can be fun and harmless, it can also be harmful. We need to carefully assess the situations in which it is used in order to protect ourselves and others.

[...] understand how awful the consequences can be, for both people involved. Young girls have killed themselves because of the embarrassment of their naked photos getting out. In some states, sending [...]