Texting affects teen relationships: prof;

FREDERICTON - Technology and cellphones are changing the way young people interact and, for better or worse, there's no turning back.

Lucia O'Sullivan, a psychology professor and researcher at the University of New Brunswick, studies the connection between heavy screen use - whether it's e-mail, instant messaging or texting - and its effects on personal relationships.

Contrary to popular belief, she says electronic communication is supplementing face-to-face interaction, rather than replacing it, but argues the hi-tech shift is changing behaviour, especially amongst young people.

"People tend to be a lot bolder in the risks they take in communication," she says.

"They experience an accelerated type of intimacy, they reveal a lot more information, they seek a lot more information."

She says the absence of non-verbal cues emboldens teenagers in their attitudes towards sexual behaviour, with a direct correlation between those who text frequently and those with a more advanced sexual history.

"They tend to be people who are more likely to seek sexual partners and gain sexual experience," she says of the "desperate texters" in the studies.

"People who text heavily are probably people who are more needy for a social connection and are using both to self-medicate. But I don't think texting causes it.

"We don't find it with e-mail or messaging. It's definitely the heavy texting use."

While technology, and especially access to pornography, can accelerate a young person's sexual development, O'Sullivan says the relationships produced show a less emotional connection. Instead, their interactions are more functional and pleasure-driven.

That's reflected in the content of teenagers' communications as as well.

"About half of teenagers will report that they have sent a nude or semi-nude photograph or a raunchy or sexual text to an object of their affection, or attraction anyway," O'Sullivan says.

"It is, in some ways, the new age form of flirting." Andrea Pierce, a second-year biology student at the University of New Brunswick, says most of her communication with friends and relatives is through texting or the Internet, with the phone reserved for immediate family members.

"If you don't want to speak with them on the phone, it's easier and it's quicker," she says.

She understands why some people would feel more confident flirting or making the first move via a text or Facebook message.

"People can say exactly what they want and if the other person doesn't want to respond or doesn't know how to respond, you don't have to deal with that awkwardness. Or you can say 'I didn't get the message'," she says with a laugh.

Noreen Bonnell, president of the New Brunswick Teachers Association, says teachers are governed by a provincial policy on the proper use of technology, which is complemented by rules in local districts.

Nonetheless, she says it's something teachers have to deal with.

"Naturally, we hear concerns from time to time about the appropriate use of all kinds of technology," she says.

"When things happen at schools that are found to be inappropriate, they're dealt with at the school level."

Bonnell says the ease of communication through technology has increased such incidents, but the key is to teach students to practise responsibility and respect.

"There's lots of appropriate uses of technology, too, and we certainly know that needs to be part of the 21st century classroom."

O'Sullivan says that's the right approach, for teachers and parents alike.

"Everyone has a cellphone. The train has left the station," she says.

"We have to come to terms with the fact that we will never return to a pre-technology era."

© 2011 Times & Transcript (Moncton)