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Rhetorical Context
Subject: Cell Phone Texting
Audience: Readers of Patrick Welsh’s Article “Txting Away Ur Education”
Purpose: To demonstrate that cell phone usage and texting could be put to good use and should
be further explored as a teaching tool to keep students interested.
Occasion: To further explore text messaging and its downfalls and benefits.
Thesis: Walsh may call it “texting away the education,” but it could very well be the start of
“opening new communication barriers.”
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Jolene Phillips
Mrs. Reites
ENC 1101
February 6, 2016
Cell Phone Dependency
In an article written by Patrick Welsh, it is argued that teenagers spend too much time
texting and how the texting has become more than a mere distraction, but instead a nuisance.
Unlimited text plans that are available by select wireless carriers have enabled teenagers to take
texting to a new level, and this has left a messy trail in its wake. While Welsh voices valid points
in his article, he fails to give enough information as to how many teenagers were interviewed,
and could have shown more support in his theory by visiting more schools, taking more polls, or
conducting more interviews. It seems the author is identifying that the problem itself seems to be
teenagers sitting inside of a classroom texting on their cell phone, which is taking away from the
focus on the lecture itself. However, he fails to explore how text messaging can also be of benefit
to the generations that use it most today. Welsh blames the parents and the school district for not
buckling down on the rules given about cell phone usage in the schools, but what types of
examples would we be if the very limits were broken by those who set them?
Statistics given by Welsh point out that students average “at least 80 texts per day,” using
the New York times as a source. However, it is never proven in the article that all 80 of these
texts are sent during school hours. If there are 24 hours in a day and we sleep during 8 of those
hours, that’s a time span of 16 hours awake that could be spent texting. 80 texts divided by 16
wake hours comes out to approximately 5 texts per hour. Welsh gave no evidence or numbers
stating how many students actually confessed to texting during school hours versus how many
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students attend the school. Even more so, if 5 or 10 text messages are being sent between classes,
that hardly takes away from the school day itself as it is time designated for students to walk
between their classes; if they are able to navigate the halls with their noses buried in their phones
more power to them, that is called multitasking. In any event, if any of the texting took place
during class hours, five texts over the span of an hour will not draw as much time as Walsh
makes it appear it does, due to shorthand that is commonly used.
In the very beginning it is stated that students are “seemingly off in their own world”
(Welsh) when plugged into their ipods or cell phones. From this, it’s implied that students today
are disconnected from what is going on around them when more than anything it makes them
more in tune. Agreed, it is not smart for a teenager, or any driver at all to be texting while
driving. Yet, when a conversation is held via text there is no usage of voice or emotions, so it
teaches the reader to read someone’s language and emotion instead of physically hearing it
(Shellenbarger). Slang used in North America today can be tough to decipher, but when a
teenager sends a message to his friend “man that was bad” an unknowing person might think
there was a negative experience that just held place. With the usage of a single code; such as
LOL, which means Laugh Out Loud, that can change the entire tone of the text message With
simple usage of phrases such as these it is beneficial because unknowingly these teenagers are
turning a negative message and putting feeling into it, signaling the reader how the author really
feels about what they are writing.
Another interesting fact about text messaging is the language used. It’s easy for a person
to type out “What are you up to?” and for the receiver to read such message. Interesting enough,
in “text talk” that very same sentence could be written as “wuu2?” which admittedly, I myself
would not be able to read. This is a language that teens know all too well and parents should
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strongly consider learning. This type of shorthand allows messages to be sent much faster than a
telephone conversation, less expensive than an envelope with a letter, and much more portable
than say an email in a computer (Jenkins). This generation growing up today is more hands on,
and the technology will not be subsiding anytime soon. Instead of ridiculing the very gadgets that
may be more useful in the future to the generation the most familiar with it, we should adapt and
discover new ways of turning a lecture into more hands on experiences.
One of the reasons that it seems the cell phone craze has gotten out of hand is simply due
to the lack of seriousness in the rules posted by the school board and by parents. In many student
handbooks required for both students and parents to sign, it is clearly stated that cell phone usage
during school hours is forbidden. How can such a rule be taken seriously when parents
themselves are texting their children during school hours? In an article written by Beth Harpaz,
she states that recently parents have come to embrace the texting craze and use it as a tool to
keep in touch with their teenagers, since the communication barrier can be a tricky mess to
maneuver around at this age. When a boundary doesn’t seem to exist in the home life and you
find every member of the family reaching for their phones when there is a buzz at the dinner
table, that sort of attitude can carry over into the educational environment as well.
Overall, Welsh brings out valid points in the battle against text messaging in classroom
and how it is taking away from education. If a student chooses to text during lecture and
therefore fails a quiz given at the end of class; the student failed to pick a good place and time to
text, but that does not present itself as a nationwide problem, just poor choice. Instead of being
close minded to what a nuisance texting is, we should be open to the idea of incorporating
modern technologies into lectures and teaching methods as not to keep the teenagers bored. In a
study of 575 teens, one third of them were found to use their cell phones more than 90 times a
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day (Gellene). In that same study, it was suggested that the highest reasons for text messaging is
because the student is unhappy or bored, and feels the need to reach out to someone. If options
were given to teachers to hold a lecture followed by a text discussion on a social networking site
such as Twitter so everyone can have their input to be discussed, then what is the harm in
allowing such texting to take place? With ideas such as these, we can learn to embrace the
texting age and be provided with the opportunity to keep up. Optimistically, there may be a
change in student participation and grades if their interests and voices were heard in such ways.
Walsh may call it “texting away the education,” but it could very well be the start of “opening
new communication barriers.”
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Works Cited
Harpaz, Beth. “Parents Embrace Texting as a Way to Keep in Touch with Teens.” The State
Journal-Register. 27 Sept. 2009. Web. 1 Nov 2009.
Gellene, Denise. “Study: Teens’ Heavy Use of Cell Phones May Signal Troubles.” The Los
Angeles Times. 24 May 2009. Web. 1 Nov. 2009.
Jenkins, Imani. “Face-to-Screen Communication Step Forward for Teens.” The Augusta
Chronicle. 13 Oct. 2009. Web. 1 Nov. 2009.
Shellenbarger, Sue. “For Teens, Has Texting Replaced Talking?” The Wall Street Journal:
Blogs. 13 Sept. 2009. Web. 30 Oct. 2009.
Welsh, Patrick. “Txting away ur education.” USA TODAY. 23 Jun. 2009. Web. 30 Oct. 2009.