Everyone can agree that our technological advancements have made our lives significantly easier. However, texting has increasingly made communication less personal. Because of this, messages are often misinterpreted and oftentimes unknowingly hurt or offend people.

Back in the day--before cell phones became attached to our hips, people had no other choice but to call on a house phone if they wanted to get a hold of someone. Nowadays, I often hear my friends say, "ehh...I don't feel like calling I'll just text them," when trying to get a hold of someone. Yes, it is more efficient at times to shoot someone a text if you have a quick inquiry, but we shouldn't make texting so much of a habit that it's awkward to call someone. I'm sure people have been in a situation before where they're arguing with someone through texts because they want to avoid the confrontation in person. This creates a problem because people sometimes read the message differently from the way you communicated it.

There is more to communication than just words. People communicate through facial expressions, their tone of voice and body language. Something you might be sending to a person might be sarcasm or a joke, but they might take it as that you're trying to be mean. Remember: All they see are words and nothing else. According to an article on About.com titled "Types of Nonverbal Communication", "While nonverbal communication and behavior can vary dramatically between cultures, the facial expressions for happiness, sadness, anger and fear are similar throughout the world." Sending a text that reads, "I'm fine," may make it hard for the recipient to tell if you really are fine or are upset without seeing your facial expression or hearing your tone of voice. "Depending on the topic of conversation it can be hard to do it through texting because people can take it the wrong way," said sophomore special education major Lauren Wright.

Using texting as a main source of communication also affects people socially. I know you're thinking, "Well of course it does, I text my friends on the weekend to see what's going on." However, if people get too used to texting all the time and rarely use a phone or have face-to-face conversation, it impacts the way they interact with people. It may sound silly but communicating everyday with people allows you to practice your communication skills and develop confidence in other aspects, such as an interview, a speech, or even just being able to hold a conversation.

I'm not trying to tell anyone to stop texting or that texting is bad. Let's be real, you're probably texting someone right now, just as I'm about to. The main point is to not let texting control the way you communicate to people. Still make the effort to call your parents just to hear their voice or meet up with an old friend to catch up in person rather than just the occasional "How are ya?" text.