As a thought leader and strategist, my job is to identify key trends that can benefit my clients. One recent trend relates to new laws meant to protect consumers from themselves when self-management fails to ensure they do the right thing. Laws banning texting or holding a wireless device while driving were enacted as more people now die in car accidents due to smartphone distractions than from drunk driving. I prefer self regulation over government intervention but I must agree that boundaries need to be set when the public has a collective penchant for bad behaviours. This makes me wonder: do we need to enact a law that would set an acceptable age for social media and texting? Or, on the flip side, is there an opportunity hidden in this challenge for the wireless products and services industry?
Let’s look at the facts. Research has shown that teenagers are heavy users of texting; more than one third of teens send more than 100 text messages per day. Studies have also shown social media and texting allow teens to communicate more often, to more people. However, these same studies raise concerns that such behaviours are starting to undermine the fundamentals of good communication, proper grammar and the ability to effectively socialize. The early use of social media is also leading to a serious decline in teen social values: cyberbullying, easy access to pornography, unfiltered misinformation and propaganda – major issues that did not exist ten years ago.
Learning at a young age is all about leveraging social interactions with others, learning from role models, and participating in physical activities such as team sports. However, it’s now become more convenient for teens to speak to a friend or family member via texting than meet face to face, or share intimate aspects of their lives in online forums, which can spread like wildfire. It’s not uncommon for kids today to tune-out during physical conversations for the instant gratification of text messages. Online communication is also impacting teens’ ability to master conventional communication tools such as writing to express themselves, which recently lead some schools to reintroduce cursive writing in their curriculums and teachers to pay greater attention to teens’ verbal and written communication skills. These behaviours are undermining their social abilities in their formative years, including a growing lack of public etiquette and ability to hold their attention beyond 144 characters. This leads to a greater concern for how these teens will lead the world when most of us will be retired.
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As teens shift their online texting and social media usage to smartphone devices, and the potential for negative outcomes increases, wireless and social media industries have a great opportunity to provide educational platforms on proper phone etiquette and social values. The program could be included in primary and secondary school curriculum no different than math and science, leveraging key insights and learnings from the wireless industry. Who better to lead in educating teens on the right social values than the companies whose networks and platforms teens interact with more than a hundred times a day. Learning from other regulated usage categories such as the liquor and automobile industries, it is far better to lead change than respond to decisions made due to a lack of leadership.
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