Stephanie Effken

    Do ur kids txt 2 much?
     Text messaging and instant messaging have become the new communication modes, seemingly replacing talking all together.
     An eleventh-grader at Seward High School, Lucus Anderson said he never calls people, only texts.
     Holly Shearer, an eighth-grader at Seward Middle School, said she also never talks on her cell phone.
     "My in-box gets full twice a day," Holly said. "It holds 80 messages. My bill last month was 1,000 text messages."
     Ashley Dalphet of Seward, a nineth-grader, said she estimates sending 300 text messages a day, before her phone was dropped in the toilet last week.
     "I'll start texting at 7 and stop at midnight," Ashley said. "[Since the phone was dropped in the toilet] I'm not so distracted in school."
     Holly said that the school is fairly strict about cell phone usage in class but when kids sit in the back of the classroom, they text away.
     Lucus and Holly agreed that they often use shorthand texting lingo in their school work, but it is not often mentioned in class.
     "It's probably not that big of a problem yet," Lucus said. "One time I wrote ppl in my paper and my teacher said, 'What's that'? I said, Hoh that means people.'"
     This texting lingo allows texters everywhere to communicate more quickly than even a conversation.
     The most common shorthand used to be "u" in place of "you" and "r" instead of "are" but Lucus said it's become less common, though he cannot understand why since it is faster. Holly said she never even uses those shorthands but makes use of lol (laugh-out-loud) and hehe (laughing).
     With hundreds of text messages being sent every day per individual, texting is the equivilent of hours of thumb-flying communication.
     While Lucas and Holly both said they spend a couple hours a day texting, Holly also estimated spending an hour and a half on instant messenger each day. Sixth-graders Alex Gilbert and Kayla Toovey said they spend two or three hours on instant messenger every day.
     Most students said their parents are not upset with the amount of time they spend on the computer or the phone.
     "They don't get mad. I don't think they can be because they gave it to us," Ashley said.
     But could text messaging elimate the use of verbal communication?
     Ashley said she thinks texting has increased communication. Others say that even if they are sitting next to friends, they will text rather than talk with each other.