The use of text messaging and smartphones has increased dramatically in recent years. Americans between ages 18-29 now send and receive an average of 88 text messages per day. As a result, people are less likely to engage in traditional face-to-face conversations even when in the same room together, instead preferring to communicate electronically. Overreliance on digital communication may negatively impact people's social skills and their ability to understand nonverbal cues in conversations. Excessive smartphone and text usage could also damage personal relationships and productivity if it replaces real human interaction.

1. http://fc02.deviantart.net/fs70/i/2012/182/0/9/dont_talk_to_me__im_texting_by_elmaton3562-d55lhrh.jpg
The Text-Generation

2. Pew Internet stated that the number of text messages sent monthly
in the U.S. explodedfrom
14 billion in 2000 to 188 billion in 2010.5
http://fc01.deviantart.net/fs70/i/2010/225/4/4/Nuclear_explosion_by_kingsandji.jpg

3. Americans ages 18-29 send and receive an average of nearly
88 text messages per day5
http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/f/fc/Texting_in_traffic.jpg

4. So many people are connected at all times to smartphones, society becomes a
“gadget haze”6.
http://farm5.staticflickr.com/4143/4773693893_ee0414482b_o.jpg

5. Each of us
is in our
own
bubble
, furiously
connected
to
keyboards
and tiny
touch
screens.2
http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/9/94/Reflection_in_a_soap_bubble_edit.jpg

6. People no longer talk to each other,
even if they are in the same room.4
http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Blonde_girls_texting.jpg

7. Technology-enabled, we are able to be with one another, and also
elsewhere:
alone together.2
http://25.media.tumblr.com/tumblr_ld3a0v01hu1qbx1dvo1_400.jpg

8. How well we negotiate electronic communication in our personal relationships can
makeor breakthem.2
~ Dr. Sherry Turkle
http://farm5.staticflickr.com/4140/4960579336_f7607c704a_o.jpg

9. Willing to dispense with people altogether.
"If they insist on only texting,
they're not my kind of person anyway.” 1
http://farm1.staticflickr.com/48/108876881_fc305b32f7_z.jpg?zz=1

10. To get these, we ask simpler questions; dumb down our
communications,
even on the most important matters. 2
When we communicate on our digital devices, we expect fast
responses.
http://farm4.staticflickr.com/3609/3566962216_4a8e2f832c_o.jpg

11. The fear is that more of us are
losing our ability to have, or are avoiding,
traditional face-to-face conversations that are vitalin the workplace
and personal relationships.7
http://farm2.staticflickr.com/1416/1400055656_5dfe9ce740_o.jpg

12. As a society, we
are becoming
when it comes to
reading facial
expressions and
body language. 5
functional
illiterates
http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Young_woman-body_language.jpg

13. These are cues that you lose when you can't see or hear someone, or
when you're distracted, even in person, by a gadget.7
http://s0.geograph.org.uk/photos/98/45/984546_d55fc932.jpg

14. “I don’t call or stop by to talk,
I don’t want to be interrupted.
I’d rather just do things on my BlackBerry”. 2
http://farm7.staticflickr.com/6148/6004509953_195cba754f_o.jpg

15. “Email and texting meant a conversation I could control…
I get to say exactly what I want,
exactly when I want to say it.” 5
http://fc09.deviantart.net/fs71/f/2012/089/4/8/god__puppet_master__s_myth_by_ravelai-d4ugh6q.jpg

16. We use technology to keep one another at distances we can control:
not too close, not too far, just right.
j
The Goldilocks effect. 2
http://aerialamy.com/blog/wp-content/themes/simply-pink//2011/06/goldilocks.jpg

17. Today many people with cell phones prefer texting over a phone call.
From Pew Internet & American Life Project7
http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Man_texting_over_shoulder.jpg

18. "We loathe having crucial conversations. They make us
PARALYZED and we do what we can to avoid them.” 7
http://s0.geograph.org.uk/photos/87/59/875991_ecd2906a.jpg

19. Electronic communication
will create
less face-to-face
conversations.
Future generations will be more comfortable texting their friends
than talking to them in person. 6
http://artsandcomputing.files.wordpress.com/2009/03/2008-05-08bookfromtheground.jp

20. We are tempted
to think that our
little “sips”
big gulp
of real
conversation. 2
of online
connection
add up to a
http://farm9.staticflickr.com/8016/7468312536_89549c1b78_o.jpg

21. http://capl.washjeff.edu/2/l/5013.jpg

22. That’s a WARNING SIGN that we are giving in to our
techno-fetishes,
and putting more faith in them than in our own real-world concerns.6
http://farm9.staticflickr.com/8289/7832821594_24383a02f7_o.jpg

23. our current situation,
our current surroundings
and the people we spend time with?
6
What long-term effects will occur by
devaluing
http://fc07.deviantart.net/fs40/i/2009/028/7/f/Spiral_Clock_2_by_cat_machine.jp

24. children with cell phones often won’t make friends with other children
who don’t have cell phones. 6
http://frohan55.files.wordpress.com/2013/02/left-out.jpg

25. because of cell phone usage. 6
had lost a relationship or job
7% of students
http://farm2.staticflickr.com/1013/902028093_9a5b518310_b.jpg

26. Works Cited
1. He Texts, She Tweets—Are They E-Compatible? By Elizabeth Bernstein. The Wall Street Journal. July
2012.http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052702304708604577502672286303452.html
2. The Flight From Conversation. Sherry Turkle. The New York Times. April
2012.http://www.nytimes.com/2012/04/22/opinion/sunday/the-flight-from-
conversation.html?pagewanted=all&_r=0
3. New technological devices lead to decline in social
skillshttp://www.universitychronicle.net/index.php/2011/02/13/new-technological-devices-lead-to-decline-
in-social-skills/
4. Texting affects communication
skillshttp://www.kent.k12.md.us/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=555:texting-affects-
communication-skills&catid=54:superintendent&Itemid=188
5. We never talk any more: The problem with text
messaginghttp://www.cnn.com/2012/08/31/tech/mobile/problem-text-messaging-oms
6. How Cell Phones Are Killing Face-to-Face Interactions http://www.pbs.org/mediashift/2007/10/how-cell-
phones-are-killing-face-to-face-interactions295
7. Text Messaging: Is Texting Ruining The Art Of
Conversation?http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/06/03/text-messaging-texting-
conversation_n_1566408.html
http://farm3.staticflickr.com/2051/1803278949_821accfb22_z.jpg

27. Images
All images used are from Google using the
Advanced Image Search, with usage rights set
to: Free to use, share or modify.
http://farm3.staticflickr.com/2051/1803278949_821accfb22_z.jpg