Miscellaneous Musings | Texting is not Connecting

What is the one object you swear that can't live without? Almost every teen would agree that it would be almost impossible to survive without their cell phone. Their reasoning is not only based on the convenience of having one, but also on their reliance of text messaging.

According to a recent survey by the Korea Agency for Digital Opportunity and Promotion, 4 out of 10 high school students are “addicted to their mobile phones,” specifically text messaging. Furthermore, teachers have seen a direct correlation with students neglecting schoolwork and showing signs of sleep deprivation due to text messaging addiction.

While in the US, it has been estimated that 40% of teens send more than 1000 text messages a month. Most of them have every letter on the keypad memorized, and some states even hold contests to see who can text the most words per minute. Arizona is no exception. A junior at Pinnacle High School states that “Texting is my addiction, it’s my entertainment. I send 300 texts a day, so without a cell phone or text messaging I honestly don’t think my life would be the same.”

Whether it’s texting the details about where to meet for lunch to a friend during class, setting a phone on vibrate to be sure not to miss a text, or promising your parents you won’t text during the family dinner, while sending a quick “call u l8er,” teens are sure never to miss a text, or leave their friends waiting for a reply.

As the technological world today continues to advance rapidly, this thing called verbal communication is becoming more and more obsolete. Since texting became popular in the mid-1990s, the amount of people writing letters and actually talking on the phone has been experiencing a decreasing trend. Whereas for people in the “old days”, they wrote letters, not emails, as a standard form of communication, which we now refer to as "the old fashioned way".

There is a saying that can be applied here, “it’s the thought that counts.” Even though emails and text messaging is undeniably faster, you know the person who wrote it thought of you longer than a few seconds, or in the case of epic-texts, minutes. The person writing a letter takes the time to get paper and an envelope then take it to the nearest mailbox. This shows that the person writing the letter, wanted to write you, otherwise, why go through all that trouble?

Don't get me wrong, texting is great, it's such an integrated part of our culture that it would be completely incomprehensible to abolish it. Instant gratification is one of the many rewards of texting. You want someone to know something within a few seconds, done. While most stereotypes put teens as the best "texters" in the world, due to the unending amount of experience with texting, texting is really for everyone. Yet, the verbal communication that is necessary in friendships and other relationships is diminishing because of this phenomenon. Texting, as well as e-mailing and other forms of non-verbal communication, take the extra thought and necessary personal contact out of the equation. Relationships can become much more distant at the cost of convenience and more time.
But in today’s society, it seems that is what people really care about, time.

So if you want a truly personal relationship, pick up the phone, not to text, but to dial numbers (it may seem strange at first, I know), or better yet write a letter. You may actually get mail…in a mailbox, not an inbox.

Miscellaneous Musings | He without leg, She without arm

There is a common misconception that strength is measured by the amount of physical power an individual possesses. But there are instances where people find strength within themselves to overcome difficult decisions and face equally difficult situations. Here is an inspirational story of two individuals who did what many had said was the impossible by conquering their own fears, inhibitions and most of all, self-doubt. 

Let me introduce Ma Li, a beautiful and promising professional ballerina. At the age of 19, she lost her right arm in a car accident. As a result, her self-esteem shattered and her –obviously shallow- boyfriend left her, which prompted Ma Li to give up her passion for dance. At one point she even tried killing herself, only to be saved by her parents. After that, despite her own feelings of hopelessness, the love she had for her parents gave her the strength to carry on living.

Five years later in 2001, she was invited to compete at the 5th national special performing art competition for handicaps and won the gold medal. That success gave her the hope to return to her beloved stage.

In 2005, she met a 21-year-old man, Zhai Xiaowei who had lost his left leg (after falling off a tractor when he was only 4). Like Ma Li had been, he doubted that he would be able to overcome his disability. But after some persuasion, he agreed to give it a try. Together the duo practiced intensively for more than a year, starting at 8am everyday and ending at 11pm. One would not be able to imagine the kind of challenges and difficulties they faced. He lacked the basic dance background and she was a perfectionist. The contrast between their abilities frequently led to disputes. They would even go as far as to abandon the project altogether (for a while at least).

In April, they had perfected their routine and, from a sample of 7000 other competitors, were selected as finalists in the 4th CCTV national dance competition. It was the first time a handicapped couple ever entered the competition. They performed their routine, aptly named “Hand in Hand”. The audience was moved to tears by their display of hope, endurance and inner strength. 

The pair won the Silver medal with the 99.17 high score and not to mention the highest audience popular votes. They became an instant national hit.

So if you catch anyone saying “I can’t”, show them this video.