"No cell phone, no problem."

In a study by Michael Chan, he says, “The ‘always-on culture,’ proliferated by the rise of the mobile phone has reduced the quality and intimacy of face-to-face relationships. Rather than making people’s lives more efficient, mobile phones have intruded into all aspects of everyday life and blurred the traditional boundaries of personal and work life. Texting is preferred to voice communication because it requires less emotional and cognitive commitment.”

When someone uses their phone so much to communicate, it desensitizes him or her to real life situations of communicating with others. Over the phone, you do not need to show any facial expressions or any body language. These are some of the most important forms of communicating. Without practicing these social cues, talking in person with someone can become very uncomfortable or awkward.

In an article written by Erin Stewart, she says that how a message is sent can determine many other factors as to how the message is interpreted by the receiver. For example, if you are in an escalated conflict with your friend, each person will assume that the other is going to be either aggressive or hostile. Any ambiguous message received will be interpreted as aggressive or hostile by the other person, even if the sender did not intend it to be that way at all. Our mind distorts what we read so that it is made to fit our world-view. It is hard to tell what the other person is feeling without having a face-to-face conversation. 

“Texting has the ability to reinforce ineffective communication. Individuals can ‘hide behind a screen’ to escape confrontation in friendships or romantic relationships.” -Lauren Suval

People use texting as a way to escape predicaments or awkward situations when they lack the courage to do so in person. Texting is also impersonal. Emotional texts are expressed through typing, instead of clues such as tone of voice, facial expressions, and body language. It is much more effective to have an intimate conversation with someone in person.

Cell phones can be a distraction at any time. They can be a distraction while you are spending time with your friends or family, but they can also be a distraction while your attention should be best focused elsewhere. 

Texting and driving

Being distracted by a cell phone while driving can cause you to get into an accident that is debilitating or even fatal. In 2008, approximately 1 in 6 fatal vehicle collisions resulted from a driver being distracted while driving. Studies using a naturalistic methodology suggested that relative to non-distracted drivers, those drivers who text are 23 times as likely to crash.