I've been noticing a phenomenon with my college age children -- both are very different, but very bright and independent people -- to text their friends and roommates and even my husband and I before making decisions. Instead of doing the research up front, they practice an iterative approach to many aspects of their daily lives. Shopping for college memorabilia during graduation weekend, my daughter texted one of her friends for counsel on what to choose. Determining which local sandwich shop would be less crowded for the group of students and their families, the texts were flying fast and furious. Finding out which Starbucks is closest to a new job location leads to texts, not phone calls and not an old-school fingers doing the walking through a telephone directory.
It's been fascinating to watch. It struck home when I read this morning's article in the Boston Globe about texting and its potential impact on young people.
Sherry Turkle, director of the MIT Initiative on Technology and Self, has
spent the last three years researching texting habits of teens in the
Her findings suggest that teenagers' texting habit is slowing their emotional growth. "Years ago, if I saw a kid who talked to his mother 20 times a day, I would say he has an attachment problem," notes Turkle. "Now I interview hordes of college juniors and seniors who routinely text their moms while they're waiting at the bus. The lack of independence from parents means teens are not learning to make decisions on their own."
Although my own children eschew Twitter as a waste of time that they don't understand and only one of them uses Facebook, I do wonder what happens when this generation embraces other social media channels like these. Does the collaborative approach of "tweetups" and the sharing of ideas, thoughts and interesting links slow down the development of original content? Collaboration and the value of team are paramount in a client service business like ours. However, it's important that social media enhances these values and does not become a crutch for constant sanity checking of ideas and approaches. It is a fine line we will all need to walk to use these channels effectively without having them erode individual creativity and confidence.
A colleague recently joked that "it shouldn't take a village for someone to say the right thing," lightly poking fun at the need to help spokespeople craft their messages and be well prepared for interviews. The power of these new channels lies in their ability to amplify new ideas and thinking and not to relegate it to constant crowd-sourcing before a position is determined.
What do you think? Do you ever worry about the downside of too much social media interaction?
