I’ve noticed, over the last five years that this generation of teens is beginning to lose communication skills because of an increase in texting. Many high school students have a hard time operating in our driven adult world due to their lack of effective communication. According to a survey done by Nielsen, teens send approximately 3,417 texts per month. I checked my Verizon bill and saw that my daughter sends approximately 1,500 texts a month, not including those she receives. Teens could get a full time job texting, but can they get a job in the real world, a world of talking face to face to bosses, managers, and customers? How would they fare when they go to interview and have to communicate their best skills? “Well, I think my strengths are texting, text lingo, and text short hand.” Here is what I think a teen’s communication report card would look like.
Communication Report Card:
Face to face D
Phone F
Email C
Texting A+
Text Lingo A+
Texting has obviously replaced face to face communication, for teens, my concern is they will not have the skills needed to confidently communicate why they are the best person for the job. Will they be able to appropriately address those clients or customers they have to interact with? Do they speak clearly, listen well and show the right body language? These are necessary skills that are left out during texting. Last night my daughter was telling me how a text conversation is not a real conversation. According to my daughter, this is what a text conversation looks like:
Teen 1: Hey Teen 2: Hi
Teen 1: J Teen 2: J
Teen 1: What are you doing Teen 2: Nothing you
Teen 1: haha Teen 2: hahaha
Teen 1: hahaha Teen 2: BRB
Teen 1: K Teen 2: K
Imagine the above conversation in person. As teens say, this would be a complete fail. We need to encourage this generation of young people to work on their communication skills, especially if they are going to be successful in the workplace and in their future relationships. This is a call to help teens sharpen their communication skills so that they are strong leaders in their generation.