Cell Phones, Texting and Tween Friendships

Reflection of the article: How does technology affect kids' friendships? by H. Stout (April 30, 2010).

Subjects: Social Networking, Digital Technology, Tween Friendships, Cell Phones, Texting

There is no doubt in anyone’s mind that tweens today are hard wired into the technology.  Youth, ages 8 to 18, spend more than seven and a half hours a day on a smart phone, computer, television or other electronic device according to an ongoing national survey conducted in 2009 by the Kaiser Family Foundation.  The Pew Reasearch Center’s study on teens, cell phones, and texting (2010) found that 75 percent of 12 to 17 year-olds own cell phones with half of those teens sending more than 50 text messages a day.  Parents and researchers alike are worried about the more negative aspects of online interactions that tweens are experiencing, such as cyber-bullying and sexting.  Links between technology and a child’s intellectual development has long been debated.  Some college students show signs of withdrawal similar to drug addicts when going without a social media connection (Dominus, 2010).

But children are being affected by technology in other subtle and less traumatic ways.    Stout (April 20, 2010) discusses how digital technology is changing the ways in which tweens and teens are interacting with one another and their ability to develop meaningful friendships.  Gone are the days of waiting to talk to a friend at school or calling them from a landline.  Today’s teens and tweens have cell phones and Facebook accounts with which they instantly message their friends and update their statuses, letting everyone know exactly what they’re doing.  I believe that this constant connection allows tweens multiple opportunities to be closer longer their friends.  I don’t believe that technology interferes with a child’s ability to build close childhood friendships.  I believe it only changes how those relationships are built and maintained.   

I’m not so sure that I agree with the sources Stout cites about the quality of face-to-face interactions and the emotional depth of those interactions being diminished.  Adults remember the days of talking for hours on the phone with a single friend.  Tweens today can chat with multiple people at a time.  They are adept multi-taskers who perform better than excepted when faced with distractions (Jayson, 2010).  Tweens today are already moving past regular texting and emails and using services like Skype to video chat with their friends.  This growing trend towards video chatting is likely to re-strengthen those facial recognition skills that Stouts sources said were weakening.  Tweens are social creatures and technology offers a way for tweens to become even more social.