I know why my 19-year-old daughter becomes absorbed tap tap tapping out texts on her phone whenever she gets in the car with me. She does it, and she has acknowledged this, to deter my asking stupid questions that pass as conversation. You know, like "how are you getting home?" or "who are you meeting there?". I might add that we're in the car together because she's asked me to drive her somewhere or other. So, I know why she does it. And I suspect her friends who get in the car when, again, I'm ferrying them somewhere do it for the same reason.
But why do young women text whenever they're in the public eye? They're tap tap tapping as they walk, as they sit at a bench, as they stand alone or in a group.
I learnt just a few days ago that often girls who hold a phone to their ear as they're walking or standing in public are not in fact on the phone, and so I question whether the interminable texters are in fact tapping out a message or just tapping. How, otherwise, could they afford the phone bill!
Perhaps young women have become compulsive texters as a counter to their anxiety about being in the public eye. Being self conscious and anxious when we're on display or in public is nothing new, and we have the glass, the bottle of water and the handbag as props to counter that anxiety. But there must be something else to this constant texting. Is it a craving for communication no matter how inane? Twitter? Has texting created a social networking dimension that requires continuous manoeuvrings and repositionings?
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