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Northern Star

Northern Illinois University’s student news organization since 1899

 

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The Student News Site of Northern Illinois University

Northern Star

The Student News Site of Northern Illinois University

Northern Star

Texting slang not a way to ace a paper

By AJ Edwards | July 1, 2013

Texting has become so important to the way we communicate we have even begun to shorten or abbreviate entire words to make them easier to type as shorthand texts.While texting may be an easy way to ask your friend which bar they plan on frequenting this...

Sleep texting is inevitable for any cellphone-crazed person

By Danny Cozzi | April 8, 2013

A few months ago, while I was out at Dunkin’ Donuts with a friend back home, I received an interesting text from my mom around midnight. I was so confused at the paragraph-sized mess of jumbled letters and words that I thought she was drunk. The text...

Your text humor is measured in ‘ha’s

By Danny Cozzi | March 21, 2013

Before we all left to celebrate our spring break last week, I was in class when I got a text from a good friend of mine. She was responding to a joke I made, which was an array of “haha’s” in all caps and an “LOL” at the end. Despite the obvious...

Phone fixations come at a price

By Anthony Szudarski | September 4, 2012

So, we made it through the first week. By now I’m sure you’ve all been warned by your instructors not to text in class; but, maybe you don’t know why that can be an issue, other then the fact that it annoys your instructor and the people around...

Generation ruining romance

By Parker Happ | February 15, 2012

"Look me in the eyes and tell me you didn't break that lamp," said my parents when I denied any wrongdoing. It pained me as a child, but looking people in the eyes may be more important than we may think.In the 2003 movie Paycheck with Ben Affleck and...

Does texting make communicating less personal? Yes.

By Colin Remes | October 19, 2011

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.

Exploring the context of texting

By Felix Sarver | September 26, 2011

Junior NIU NGOLD student Matt Jennings, has a father who may be a pioneer of text-speak.Jennings said his dad likes to use letters and acronyms when texting him, some of which are his dad's own creation."He'll use ‘c home' to mean coming home," Jennings...

Texting and Facebook do not lead to risky behaviors

By Kathryn Minniti | November 28, 2010

Warning: Facebook users and texters are in danger. According to a study done at Case Western Reserve University in Cleveland, people who use Facebook often or text are at a higher risk for "worrisome behaviors." These behaviors include smoking, risky...