Hiding Behind Texting

Are you keeping up on how your tween maybe texting other friends? Is your tween remembering to think about what he/she is writing before pushing the send button? A good question to ask yourself when writing a text is “Would I say this to the person in a face-to-face conversation?” Sometimes tweens may try to hide behind the words they text one another and would not speak these words face-to-face with their friends. Is this building tweens’ self-confidence so when it is the time to speak up, the tweens can in a real life conversation or is it the start of cyber-bullying? 

Sometimes tweens use harsher words and phrases when texting back forth between friends, and I often wonder, do they realize how these words are coming across. In the most part, I think tweens do realize when they start using harsher words when texting. As parents, it is important to continue to talk about getting into the habit of always reading their texts before pushing the send button. As adults, we know printed words can come across quite differently than spoken words. Spoken words are accompanied by facial and body expressions along with the rising and lowering tones of the voice. You definitely do not have these affects accompanying the printed words.