Do you text? How about your roommate? How about the person sitting next to you in class?
The Hilltop took up the subject this semester in interviews with students on campus to assess their habits and opinions on the now common form of instant communication.
The Hilltop staff asked questions ranging from texting etiquette to frequency, and answers varied widely. Interviews are posted on The Hilltop YouTube channel, HilltopMHC. Read on to find answers from MHC coeds.
Addicting or Annoying?
Texting for one student at Mars Hill College has become addicting in class and out.
“Texting is addicting. I usually text everywhere, and it’s normally all day long,” according to Heather Boyd, a freshman at Mars Hill College.
“I think it is rude to text when in direct conversation with somebody, but other than that I text all day,” Boyd said.
“I used to be so addicted to texting that I would text and drive, but now that I got a new phone, it is harder to do that,” she said.
North Carolina law was recently changed to make texting while driving illegal. A ban kicked in Dec. 1, 2009. Teen drivers had already been prohibited since December 2007. Drivers caught texting while driving face a fine of $100 plus court fees, according to the legislation.
Although Shelby Brooks said she is aware of the law, she still sends text messages while driving.
“It’s illegal in North Carolina, but yeah, I do,” Brooks, a freshman from Spartanburg, S.C., said.
Like Boyd, Brooks thinks texting is very addictive. Before going to bed, she tends to text and also talk on the phone. But, she said, the form of her communication depends on whose she’s talking to, what the conversation might be and the time of night. She said she doesn’t usually text early in the morning.
But Boyd is a morning, noon and night texter.
“I’ll text in the morning while I’m getting ready, I text while I’m watching a movie, in class, or while I’m walking,” Boyd said.
“I do it a lot, and I can’t stand it,” another student told The Hilltop.
Being Candid
One of the questions put to students was: “Is it easier to be candid while you are texting?”
“Yes, it is easier to be candid because you can’t hear their actual voice and hear their emotion and their reaction,” Boyd said.
“Texting is definitely the most prevalent form of modern communication because everyone is familiar with it, and it just gives you something to do,” she said.
Anthony Barnett , a freshman from Madison, N.C., said he uses texting “all the time” to keep up with his friends here and elsewhere about many subjects.
“Anything and everything,” Barnett said. “Classwork assignments, how they’ve been, what they’re doing. ‘Wanna hang out?’ And that kinda stuff.”
But he said he only texts his parents occasionally.
“Sometimes about work, and if I need money,” he said.
Rude or Ambivalent
Barnett said that others texting in class does not bother him. But he considered texting in a movie theater different.
“Movie theater is different than class,” he said. “In class, I just let them [people in class] do their own thing. They’re paying for it. But a movie, it’s all dark and it’s . . . distracting,” he said.
Shelby Brooks said texting during class is not rude, especially if the class is boring.
“The teachers themselves give students the right to text during their class period because they do not make the time in class interesting enough to pay attention,” she said.
However, Brooks said texting at a dinner table or restaurant is rude.
Ilana Howard, a freshman from Monroe, N.C., said texting at a meal with family can get her in trouble.
“My mom doesn’t like it,” Howard said. “She takes my phone away.” But that doesn’t keep her from texting in class, although she tries to hide it. So far, she’s never been caught.
Brandon Howell, a freshman, said he thinks it’s rude for students to text in class, especially if it is prohibited in the syllabus or a test is being taken or a presentation is being made.
“You should be giving them your undivided attention,” said Howell. Typically, he said, he turns his phone off before going into class. But he said it doesn’t distract him if others text.
Anthony Barnett thought the same. “I don’t really pay attention to other people.”
Lady Westmoreland, a senior, said she doesn’t text in class. It doesn’t bother her, she said, but it does bother the professors. Nevertheless, outside of class, she said she texts “a lot.”
Vanessa Stuteville, a sophomore from Waynesville, N.C., also tries not to text in class, even though she does it frequently at other times. She said she thinks it’s rude to text while talking to someone else, but while doing homework, it’s easy.
Campus Policy
Howell said that although he didn’t advocate texting in class, a campus-wide policy prohibiting it would be more negative than positive.
“This would probably lead to bigger issues,” he said.
Westmoreland said she thinks most faculty address the issue directly aldready, but “nobody pays attention” to the requests.
Still, Heather Boyd said texting doesn’t affect her work.
“There should not be a campus-wide policy against texting because it doesn’t affect me while I’m in class. I still get all my work done,” she said.
2 comments
I just want to know why a texter cannot wait until after class to get it done?Marc