If you told adolescents that their texting capabilities would be taken away, they would take to the streets in revolution. The same young people would make a endless list of “ texting benefits.” However, texting can have consequences as well, due to how and when the technology is used. Texting can threaten personal safety, distract people, and encourage rudeness. Even though there are many benefits of texting, there can also be many negative consequences, some of them can be very harmful as well.
Texting can threaten people’s safety, leading to situations such as automobile accidents and death caused by said accidents. Statistics report that around six thousand people die and half a million injuries occur every year due to texting and driving. The reason for that is, while texting in a car, a person’s reaction speed slows down dramatically and they are always so distracted that they drive outside the lane they’re supposed to be in, so that results in lots of automobile accidents annually. Due to those statistics, several states have banned novice and bus drivers from texting while driving, in hopes that the situation regarding driver safety will eventually improve over time.
Another consequence is that texting can be distracting in other situations than automobile accidents. When people are crossing streets, they can be distracted by texting and possibly get run over by a car, resulting in either a death or an injury. Another instance is when a person is talking to somebody, texting can distract either person from the conversation. Or for example, in class, you’re listening to the teacher lecture and one of your friends text you and your phone goes off, it can distract the entire class and interrupt the teacher’s lecture, possibly earning you a trip to the principal’s office and having your phone confiscated.
Texting can also be rude in many situations. For example, if you were in a restaurant and people wanted you to make conversation, but you decided to text other people anyways, that’d be considered rude. Another example would be texting while ordering or eating food and not paying attention to people. Many people consider both those situations to be rude and inappropriate.
Even though there are many benefits of texting, there can also be many negative consequences. Some of them can be harmful as well. One very horrible consequence is texting and driving, which claims many lives annually. Another consequence is being ignored in social situations. Finally, people can be very rude in both social and professional situation due to temporarily forgetting their social manners. If you told adolescents that their texting capabilities would be taken away, they would take to the streets in revolution. The same young people would make a endless list of “ texting benefits.”