RESEARCH PAPER

Introduction

In the times we live in today we are so reliable on our cell phone as a means of connection to the outside world. Especially when it comes to text messaging, whether it is our family or friends, we always seem to be glued to our phones. With this being said I am going to explore the effects texting has on relationships, this involving family and friends, and personal relationships.  I will discuss the negative and positive aspects of text messaging and also include other research that I have found important in regards to my subject matter.

I hope to engage my subject to entertain my questions to the fullest extent that can be made, in hopes of revealing the information I need to gather to answer my questions. With the research I am conducting I hope to find what is lost in translation through texting, and what seems to get misconstrued the most. I hope to explore what is lost through texting messaging, whether it is seeing the facial expressions and/or the tone of someone’s voice. I went into this study with high aspects of receiving much more negative effects than positive, especially in regards to personal relationships and texting.

Literature Review

In “Generation Txt? The sociolinguistics of young people’s text-messaging” ( Thurlow & Brown revised), one of my sources for this research project, they discuss something that I found to be quite interesting.  “Initially intended for purely commercial purposes, text-messaging is in fact yet another example of how the human need for social intercourse- a kind of ‘communication imperative’ – bends and ultimately co-opts technology to suit its own ends”. This going to show the need for a text message to be used as a connection to the human race from one person to another, text messaging is a somewhat easy way to talk to someone in a quick and shorten matter, or to even avoid any type of interaction or confrontation.

      “Language is always multifunctional and always dependent on context for its meaning. As such, it was not always possible to be certain of the meaning of some participants’ messages and even less so the communicative intent with which they were sent” (Thurlow & Brown). Going along with this idea, text messaging certainly loses its meaning in translation, while you can be sending a particular text with a certain point in mind, the person on the other end may take this message in a completely different way. This is a large part of my research and what I hope to gain more knowledge of through the subject I am interviewing.  Through this research process I hope to gain a stronger grasp on text messaging, and its effects on relationships, and possibly how things would be different if text messaging did not exist in our relationships today.

In an article from The Daily Journalist by Jaime Ortega Simo. “Merlo, Ph.D. in Psychiatry of University of Florida said “people have become more dependent on technology and there is a tendency to focus less effort on in-person interactions” This going along with my question of the effects on our relationships today, and the world being so reliable on their cell phones as a means of communication. I hope to be able to add to this research and discover if what other researchers have found deems to go along with my questions and concerns about text messaging and its possible everlasting effects on our relationships.They are so many resources out there in relation to this subject area, so I tried to chose the two that I was able to connect to the most.

Methods

I chose to interview a female subject who is 26 years old, text messaging is large part of this person’s life, and I wanted to see the effects it has on her and her relationships and lifestyle based on either sending or receiving text messages.

With regards to my research question, I felt conducting an interview would be my best means to gathering the information I would need to support my research question. One of most important parts of conducting an interview in regards to my subject matter was to be able to hear and see the reaction to the questions and answers I was receiving from my subject. The question and answer scenario provided me with information, and specific reactions to questions that I needed to help further my research project. I prepared my data by compiling a set of questions, beginning with the basics than leading into more in depth questions, that I knew would provide some strong facts and examples that would support my research question. After going through the series of approximately fifty questions, I ended with a wrap-up of the interview and asked for any last minute comments or opinions.

To conduct my interview I used a recorder to capture our entire interview of which took approximately 50 minutes to complete with some conversations in between particular questions that really caught the attention of my subject, and her personal relationships. As we went through the interview I noted for myself the times when my subject was affected by particular questions I was asking, whether it was facial expression, or even a pause before she went forward with her answers. After my interview was complete I transcribed my data and organized into sections the into particular categories that went along with my research question.

Presentation and Analysis of Data

I was able to organize my data into sections based on the questions I asked and the answers I received. After doing this I was able to see more clearly the variety of answers I received and was able to cycle the ones I found vital to my subject matter. I was able to pull out the answers my subject gave me and analyze them in much closer way, while keeping in mind her gestures and reactions to these particular questions. Texting is an often occurrence for my subject due to the fact that her and her significant other work opposite shifts and only see each other on the weekends, they somewhat rely on text messaging as a large means of communication throughout the day. Due to her situation with her boyfriend, she was able to express both the positive and negative aspects of texting, the positive which includes being able to send or receive a short message when they are unable to physically see each other.  The negative which I will discuss in my next section, is having text messaging being so readily available.

 When the idea of how relationships are affected by texting rather than speaking to someone face to face is questioned, we learn that a strain may be put on relationships when you lose that personal connection to someone. An example I pulled out of my interview data that I felt pertained to this idea:

R Have any of your personal relationships been affected by a particular text?
N yes, um this one time my boyfriend and I were talking about the holidays and his family, I had said we should spend Christmas just him and I because you know I have some issues with his family, I am not welcomed in his home, so I had said let’s just do you and me, and his reply through text was its Christmas and it’s my family so if you love me you’ll come,
I was so upset and hurt because he knows the history with his family, I got so upset I said you know what I hate you and your family, it was a whole big argument all in text message and ended up spending the  holiday a part and it sucked, it really hurt.

            With this one text message things appeared to be in a sense ruined and in a way not able to be fixed, especially without seeing what her boyfriend was feeling. I pulled out this particular data because it seems to be real and something many of us in this day and age are faced with especially due to the technology we have, and the somewhat too much of an easy access to our phones and text messaging right at our finger tips any time of the day. I went on to ask my subject how things could have been different if she had waited to speak to him in person.

R do you feel texting verses face to face conversation would have changed this situation? N definitely if we would have just talked, it would have been different, we could have seen each other’s hurt and body language, tone in his voice and the way he was saying things.

This chunk of conversation played a large part to my research information; it shows the affects that texting has on people in relationships, and how the outcome of an argument or disagreement can be altered due to not having face to face contact with the other person. The loss of this face to face connection to see the emotion and hear the other persons tone is what can play the negative side of texting.  My subject was able to give me a lot of feedback based on the questions I was asking, which helped to prompt her thoughts about this topic. Another aspect I explored as one of my interview questions was:

R Is it wrong to text the opposite sex when in a relationship?
N um it depends I have guy friends I’ll talk to once in a while, my boyfriend texts girls from work, occasional here and there is ok, but if you notice its  happening a lot, its fishy stop and think no this isn't going to happen , and talk about it, the other person may take it the wrong way.

I feel this is an important factor to include in my research especially because it is something that people are dealing with every day, having text messaging so readily available can in some ways be tempting in regards to talking to the opposite text while in a relationship. The negative aspect of this is the person on the other side of the phone may be taking your text messages in a completely different context then you intended. Another aspect of texting we discussed during the course of our interview was the the idea of texting your co-workers, I asked my subject:

           R Do you feel your tone changes when texting friends verses co-workers?

           N When your texting your nest friend, you can be you, say what you want and not have to worry, I think when you text a co-worker who is more of an acquaintance and you just have a social relationship with, you have to watch what you text and how you text it have to be careful not to offend or say something that can backfire.

Conclusion

            My research question focuses on the effects text messaging has on relationships, I was able to explore through my data of questions, and how text messaging really can have a negative strain on relationships. With the categories of questions I asked throughout my interview I was able to break down the effects text messaging can have on particular people, whether this involves an intimate relationship, friendships, or even work related text messages.  I was able to gain more knowledge on how text messaging can truly affect relationships, especially in the sense of not being able to see the other person’s gestures or facial expressions.

            With regards to my resources I was able to compare some of my findings to what they found in their research. Technology is an ever growing aspect of our lives, and will continue to grow as the years go on, we will have to adapt to something new with regards to text messaging, but the effects on them are everlasting. With the data I have gone through and categorized I have come to a conclusion that as senders of text messages we need to be careful how we word things especially to particular people in our lives. Positive messages can be turned into negative ones when things are so often misconstrued which then leads to disruptions in our relationships. People seem to be losing the sense of having face to face conversation and that closeness of seeing and hearing someone’s emotions as we speak to them, with the way technology is going this problem may never be resolved.

Works Cited

Thurlow & Brown (Revised). "Generation Txt? The Sociolinguistics of young people’s text-messaging." Http://faculty.washington.edu/thurlow. 2003. November 15, 2012 <>.http://faculty.washington.edu/thurlow/research/papers/Thurlow&Brown%282003%29.htm

Simo, Ortega, Jaime. “Experts agree text messages are bad for interaction and health”. The Daily Journal. 2012.  <http://thedailyjournalist.com/theacademic/experts-say-text-messages-are-bad-for-interaction-and-health/.