Many American teenagers struggle with face to face interaction. People are believing that this struggle is stemming from the fact that teenagers’ most dominant source of communication is social media and texting. Case studies have been conducted and show that teens are more comfortable texting, rather than having a conversation that doesn’t involve their cell phones. This common behavior has numerous effects which are mostly negative, but the two most common effects are increased anxiety and lack of,or loss of, communication skills. Many teenagers experience some type of anxiety when they are not connected to their phones or are not interacting through the media. Many have also experienced anxiety when it comes to read receipts or the time that it takes for them to respond after they had received a text. A large amount adolescent anxiety comes from trying to interact in everyday conversations. They find themselves feeling awkward, uncomfortable, or insecure. When freshman, Caleb Evrard, was asked what his preferred method of communication was, he explained that he normally texted or used social media to communicate. His preferred style of communication kept him in his comfort zone. He explained that this method allowed him to process what was being said to him. He claimed that with texting, he could take the time to correctly respond, so his response wouldn’t be taken out of context. Considering that today’s youth prefers to use texting or social media to communicate, this  furthermore suggests that these forms of communication have since hindered our youth’s communication skills.

Sources:   voxalt.com/texting-vs-talking-face-face-surprising-vox-reults/servey

yourtango.com/2016289764/people-who-call-vs-text-are-more-easy-going/

goodtherapy.org/blog/texting-teens-adults-communication-0726126