Texting May Be Taking A Toll Analysis

Katie Hafner’s New York Times article “Texting May Be Taking a Toll” explains how teenagers today are making the unhealthy decision of spending too much time texting on their phones. Hafner begins the article by informing readers how the majority of teenagers are constantly on their phones with climbing rates, therefore disengaging them from today’s society. According to the article, “American teenagers sent and received an average of 2,272 text messages per month in the fourth quarter of 2008, according to the Nielsen Company — almost 80 messages a day, more than double the average of a year earlier.” (Hafner 1) This correlates to the author’s point because this explains how teenagers today have become so close to their phones through texting as seen in the data provided, not mentioning the other apps used like snapchat, instagram
Based on the article, “If technology makes something like staying in touch very, very easy, that’s harder to do; now you have adolescents who are texting their mothers 15 times a day, asking things like, ‘Should I get the red shoes or the blue shoes?” (Hafner 2) This represents the theme because it shows that kids in this day and age are too reliant on their phones, and instead of studying for their classes or their next assessment, they’re talking about something irrelevant. Next, the author made it clear that students are still getting away with communicating through text at inappropriate times, making oblivious teachers and parents relook at their child/student’s actions. In the article, it states that “Teachers are often oblivious. ‘It’s a huge issue, and it’s rampant,’ said Deborah Yager, a high school chemistry teacher in Castro Valley, Calif. Ms. Yager recently gave an anonymous survey to 50 of her students; most said they texted during