Children’s cell phone use affects skills, say professors, students.

ST. BONAVENTURE (April 19) - Gabriella Morales says she sees children these days in groups texting quickly on their cell phones. She sees children not talking to one another and focusing on texting while their hands grip tightly onto the phones that barely fit in their hands.
              According to C& R Researching, a consumer and market insights firm, more than 20 percent of children ages 6 to 9 have cell phones. College students, many of whom have texted for several years, argue that children’s texting will impact basic reading, writing and social skills. However, elementary school teachers disagree and say other social effects apply too, such as changes in parenting habits.

“I had my first cell phone when I was 13, but I did not start texting till I was 17,” says Morales, a junior St. Bonaventure University childhood studies major. “Today you see these 10-year-old kids with cell phones texting, and I definitely think these kids are too young to have phones.”

Children who focus on their cell phones do not go outside to play as much as those who don’t have them, education students say.

“When I do observations with children and I read their reports, I see that they are not well written,” says Morales.

Students say they have seen that kids have a hard time speaking to adults and socially have difficulty speaking face to face with others.

“I find this a result of texting and being online all the time instead of talking to others,” says Morales.

However, teachers do not see that to be the sole cause of deterioration of basic skills.

 “Writing does not seem to be a priority as much as it was when I began teaching,” says Janice Trowbridge, an elementary school teacher at New Life Christian School in Olean. “It seems to be more difficult for young children to communicate in complete thoughts.”

A future teacher agrees.

“Working with kids in a school setting I have noticed that children will talk by spelling out abbreviations,” says Tara Maxwell, a junior early childhood and elementary education major. She referred to abbreviations such as “Lol,” “brb” and “g2g.”

Although texting allows people to talk to friends and family throughout the day, it can affect basic skills taught to children at a young age, education students say.

Texting can affect skills such as when to end sentences and proper use of nouns, verbs and spelling, professors say.

“Students should be able to pick out the difference between, say to, too and two for example,” says Patrick Vecchio, lecturer in Bonaventure’s school of journalism and mass communication.

Computers have spell-check programs that can correct spelling for students. However, they cannot prevent all such errors, professors say.

“I think students should be able to spell every word properly given the fact they have spell-check to help them out,” says Vecchio.

“I don’t know how many students spend enough time reading for leisure anymore because there are now so many entertainment choices for them,” says Vecchio, who teaches freshman writing courses.

            Other influences may affect basic skills in children, college professors and elementary school teachers say.

“I think that parents in general are spending less time with their children. Whether it's because of social networking or because of social and work lives or both,” says Trowbridge.

Although the effects of texting and cell phones may not be visible now, teachers say they can expect it to be more common in the future.

“I believe eventually it is all going to catch up,” says Sullivan. “For example, mothers used to talk to their kids while in they were in the stroller, but now the mother is texting while pushing their stroller or parents are on Facebook at home so they’re not reading to the their kids.”  

Some teachers say they don’t believe texting is the sole cause to the decrease in writing skills.

“I do think that writing skills have decreased in students over years that I have taught school,” says Trowbridge. “I don't know, but texting and social networking are only adding more distractions from time spent reading, talking, or other interpersonal interactions between family members.”