How to Curb the Problems with Teens’ Texting Habits

Texting can be fun. Texting can be just like playing games. Texting can give all the pleasures of the world. But it is not free from some special troubles specifically associated with it and of course with the young users in their teens.

You need to take quick look at all kinds of things that confirm the habit of text messaging as a menace among the teenagers. And if you are parent of a teen, you better learn how to deal with them or your child will turn into a messaging freak beyond your controls!

Below are the three areas where you need to check

Increase in the accidents

Dangerous driving

When a teenager turns into a texting freak, safe driving becomes a most neglected thing as the kid’s eye is stuck to the mobile screen even from behind the steering wheels. And with no attention paid to the road in the front; the chances of accident increases.

It is a common scene with young drivers who are more interested in looking at their mobile screens than driving safely. This kind of dangerous driving is increasing accident cases on the roads and sadly now there are more crashes because of mobile use while driving than by drunk driving.

Walking with eyes stuck on the mobile screen

This is another dangerous practice and again more common with kids and teens but some adults also do this silly activity while walking down the streets! So, you have a striking new joke in the inbox or your friend shares a silly picture on one of the chat messenger apps? What will be your immediate reaction?

Catch a glimpse of that immediately!!! Or Leave it for a while; I’ve to cross the road.

If you’re matured and don’t want to meet with an accident, you’re reaction will surely be the second one but most kids choose the first one, especially when they are addicted to texting and chatting.

Casualty of language

Short cut words – poor spelling skills

Texting and writing for the term end exams always stand face to face in the battle ground! If you expect your child to develop almost literary writing skills and keep texting from dawn to dusk, you’re actually expecting an impossible dream to come true!

Every text addict is also addicted to shortened words, self-made acronyms, crooked sentences which are no sentences at all, and newer spellings well garnished with Internet slangs. And with such writing skills, you can hardly expect the student to write using proper language.

Texting requires you to fit in your information in 140 to 160 characters and it is an obvious that you can hardly write all the spellings properly, if you really want to fit in your message in such a short space!

Inability to write longer sentences in tests

With constant use of smaller sentences which are hardly any sentence at all, kids kind of lose their ability to construct proper sentences. They either struggle to write properly or continue writing on the tests just the way they do while typing their messages. Sadly, none of such sentence types are acceptable for regular art of writing or even for drafting a letter or two.

Kids have completely freed themselves from the confines of formal and informal language and sentence types; they have an entirely new language which requires neither proper spellings nor proper sentence structures. All they aim at is to convey the message on their mind which makes them lose marks on the tests.

Troubled communication

Unable to speak – more preference to texting

Texting has not just ruined the language but has also made today’s generation more dependent on communicating through 140 to 160 character limits. Kids hardly find it a fun to talk face to face or use their voices for speaking. Of course, they carry the finest of the cell phones with them but they scarcely ever think of using the voice call facility available on their phones. What fascinates them more about the phone is either to communicate through texting or through chat messenger apps.

This silent communication is not just turning the generation into silent people but is also taking away their gift of gab. Kids who are more addicted to texting and messenger chatting are shy of public speaking or speaking out their heart in social gathering, when public speaking is an important trait that every human needs to possess.

Neglecting the people around.

You walk into a room full of teenagers and you’ll hardly find them speaking to anybody and moreover, they not even pay any attention to you. This happens because of the texting addiction which is engulfing almost every teenager who owns a cell phone and is able to pay for the texting facility which is generally cheaper than other services!

This habit of neglecting people around is a dangerous phenomenon as it will soon turn the kids into selfish and self-centered groups who just don’t care what is happening around them.

How you can help your child live a life of digitally non-addict kid?

Avoid digitalization as much as possible

Though it is true that kids follow their peer for most of the things, yet they pick up some of the habits from their parents and it can sometimes be a bad habit of yours that ruins your child. Check your digital usage at home. If you are always stuck to your digital devices – texting your friends; checking social networking notifications; sending mails and so on; your child will learn to do the same and to stop your child from developing a wrong habit you need to change your habits too.

Also, try spending more time talking face to face with your family, especially with the kids and even when you find them paying no attention to you. Let your kids know that their habit of texting all the time will not be appreciated at home and if they do not change their habits, the family will soon stop paying attention to their needs – which may also mean – good bye to their mobile phones!

Create a more conducive environment for talking and writing

Participate with your entire family, especially with the kids in activities involving speech making; debates; and other similar activities where speaking is compulsory. Take your child to writing competitions, set prizes and surprise gifts for the kids who score well in language exam and participate more in non-digital activities!

Clarify that playing around with digital devices on road will make them disown their devices

So, you are scared if it is your child who meets with the next accident on the road? Or you just don’t know how to stop your child from texting while driving or while walking through the city roads? Here’s a simple little trick that really works! Simply tell your child that if you find him or her using the cell phone when on the road, they will no more have the privilege of driving or using the phone again. In other words, your child will either have to lose the car or the phone or the both for ill using them!

Use cell phone monitoring software to know your child’s digital addiction

But how will you know when your child is ill using the phone and texting like a real freak? How will you ever get to make out that your child was texting while walking through the roads or while driving a car? Install cell phone monitoring software onto your child’s digital device to know every truth about your child’s digital usage. You’ll be able to make out when your child texts somebody or receives a text message from somebody; when there has been a really long text chatting or chat messenger communication going on your child’s phone; or when your child has been accessing the Internet on the phone; and so on.

And the modern monitoring systems will also let you know your child’s location using GPS location tracking feature and check if your child was texting while driving or was absconding from school for texting to some strangers from the social networking sites just to plan out a secret meeting!

With active monitoring and by keeping your eyes open to your child’s digital device usage, you can easily curb all the problems with teen texting habits and encourage healthy digitalization for your child!