Author: benw

Texting Does More Good Than Harm


PRO (3 arguments)

Definitions:

Texting is defined as instant messaging only, not game playing or video watching.

1. Texting is much better and more efficient way of contacting people.
Warrant:

Texting has become a large part of our lives mainly because of how efficient it is to communicate with it. Compared to email, texting is 60 times faster best way to communicate in the modern world. Text messages are read in an average of 90 seconds, and responded to directly 45% of the time, which means if you have need someone fast, texting is clearly the way to go. Compared to email, email takes an average of 90 MINUTES to read, and is only responded to 6% of the time after being read. This obviously means that texting is a faster and more efficient way to send messages. The research group Mobile Marketing Watch, says text messages have  a 98% open rate, while email lags far behind at 20%.  Additionally, 90% of all text messages are read within 3 minutes of being sent, according to Connect Mogul, a telecommunications research firm.  It takes the average person 90 minutes to respond to email, but only 90 seconds to respond to a text message. And according to Pew Research, texting is the most widely-used and frequently used app on a smartphone, with 97% of Americans using it at least once a day.  And according to the 2015 International Smartphone Mobility Report by mobile data tracking firm Infomate, U.S. smartphone users are sending and receiving five times as many texts compared with the number of phone calls each day. In total, Americans spend about 26 minutes a day texting. That compares to spending about six minutes a day on voice calls. Having fast communication is important today because it is saving people’s lives. For instance, Nancy Lublin, founder of Crisis Text Line,  says that texting is actually the best way to communicate with kids in crisis because it’s immediate.  A telephone hotline requires finding a private place to make a call, but even the most personal confessions can be texted in the heat of a crisis. In just two years, the Crisis Text Line has exchanged more than 6 million texts between people in crisis and counselors. And Lublin's team has turned that anonymous stream of text data into what she calls a "live, real-time heat map of crises in America." Among the discoveries the map reveals: 30 percent of texts are about suicide and depression, with Sunday being the day people most often write in about killing themselves. Texts requesting help with eating disorders peak on Sunday and Monday. And two thirds of all crises happen at night, between 8:00 P.M. and 4:00 A.M.  These are all facts that we wouldn’t know without the data that comes from texts.  So far, the Crisis Text Hotline counselors have intervened in nearly 1,000 suicide attempts, saving the lives of people in acute distress.

Impact:

Texting is the fastest way of contacting anyone and getting help. Judge, this is literally saving lives. This is better for society AND is better for communication.

2. Forward-thinking teachers say that texting helps in the classroom.
Warrant:

The average person thinks that teens using texting may increase the use of abbreviations such as OMG or LOL in real life, however many studies show that texting helps with literacy and spelling in the classroom. Texting helps society in the way of educating America. Texting will help the American people therefore texting does more good than harm. In fact, teachers such as Cindi Rigsbee of Orange County, N.C have asked students to translate classic literacy to “texting language” to show language comprehension and surprisingly most students had a fun, easy time doing it. Not only that but, a new study from California State University researchers has found that texting can improve teens’ writing in informal essays and many other writing assignments. Scholastic says “A British study published in the Journal of Computer Assisted Learning found a positive correlation between texting and literacy, concluding that texting was “actually driving the development of phonological awareness and reading skill in children.” In other words, contrary to what you might think when faced with “creative” usages such as ur for your, 2 for to, and w8 for wait, kids who text may be stronger readers and writers than those who don’t. Furthermore, texting has no negative effect on school work or grades, according to Scholastic. Also according to scholastic, students know when not to text. At the City University in London, grad students found that students avoid “textism” is their work. Not only that, but a study by Stanford University showed that texting actually increased the size of papers.

Impact:

Judge, as you can see, texting has a huge impact on learning and education, and those are huge things. If we don’t have educated citizens then this will degrade the US as a whole and will not benefit society in any way. Educating the next generation is helping the future, therefore doing more good than harm. Overall, texting benefits society by educating the American people.

Sources:

usnews.com, California university(cal), Charlotte Observer, scholastic, global digital citizen foundation

3. Texting promotes communication between people through long distances .
Warrant:

Many people say texting does not promote communication though in the big picture texting it can solve communication between people in different cities, states, or countries. The difference between writing a letter and writing a text is catastrophic. Not only does a text get to a person faster than mail a text message only needs to be clicked to send while you have to bring a piece of mail to a mailbox which takes even more time. For email on the other hand it is also slow according to pcworld.com you do not get notified of an email if it has been received which slows down the process of communication. Now that we have established that texting is the fastest source of long distant communication I can show you judge why that is important. If someone is feeling sad or down or even just wanting to talk to a friend that is completely possible with text. Texting is like writing a letter but the person receives it in seconds. So you can have a conversation about your life in seconds from thousands of miles away.

Impact:

With texting now implemented into our daily lives we are able to keep relationships between longs distance and be able to communicate from state to state. We are also able to make business decisions from long distances.