Asks commentor Suffern Ace:
Texting Linked To Shallowness, Racist Attitudes
…[A] new study shows that young people who text the most tend to be far more shallow and even more racist. Researchers at the University of Winnipeg surveyed more than 2,300 first-year psychology students over three years to test the “shallowing hypothesis,” described in Nicholas Carr’s best-selling “The Shallows.”…Such people tend to place less value on moral, esthetic and spiritual ends and more on wealth and image, according to the theory. Students who sent 100 or more texts per day were 30 percent less likely to believe in the importance of leading an ethical, principled life, compared to those who sent 50 or fewer texts per day. Researchers Paul Trapnell and Lisa Sinclair also tested the hypothesis in a laboratory experiement conjoining the survey, placing subjects into three groups. Members of one group engaged in texting while another talked on cell phones. A third group did neither.
The researchers then surveyed the study population on values, including attitudes toward racial-ethnic minorities. Those in the texting group were found to have much higher levels of bias toward minorities than members of the other two groups…
************
Apart from “the toll we pay for a civilized society”, what’s on the agenda for the end of the weekend?
Comrade Jake
All I know is, the set of people who text/ use their phone while driving is a subset of the group of people who drive like assholes.
Phylllis
Weekend’s already been great, what with the Braves thrashing the Nationals. Fixing to go enjoy some porch time with the golf playing in the background.
Anoniminous
LEARNING how to type in CAPITAL LETTERS so I can communicate to WINGNUTS in a STYLE they can UNDERSTAND. I know significant NOUNS are usually in CAPITALS. It is ADVERBS I’m actually/ACTUALLY having trouble with.
Violet
Watching the Masters. I’m a bit behind, having paused the TV to do some laundry. It’s raining there and it has affected how the course plays.
Xecky Gilchrist
Are psych undergrads anything like a representative example of humanity?
arguingwithsignposts
In answer to the question posed at the top of the post: How about “neither.” I know people who text quite a bit (maybe not 30 times a day) who are very progressive and highly ethical. I also know people who have never texted who are stark raving assholes.
Stop blaming a medium for the person using it.
Further, what do they mean by texting? Would twitter count? FB messaging, IM’s?
arguingwithsignposts
@Xecky Gilchrist: No, but they do get extra credit for participating in studies. And that’s what counts as a sample.
John
Fuck the whole ridiculous concept that studies of freshman psychology students at elite universities tells us much of anything about humanity as a whole. What massive, embarrassing laziness.
raven
@arguingwithsignposts: I IM all the time, it’s a requirement for working from home.
and I’m shallow as a kiddie pool!
John
Also, you know who’s more shallow than the population as a whole? 18 year olds, that’s who. These kinds of studies are fucking infuriating.
Xecky Gilchrist
@arguingwithsignposts: Figured. Not sure how it is these days, but when I went to school the psychology department had a small number of people who were really dedicated, interested in the subject, and in it to help people or understand them, depending on whether their ultimate goal was clinical or research. But the large majority were dumbass hangers-on who were just going to inherit dad’s car dealership or whatthefuckever and believed that psych was the easiest degree to get, so that’s where they ended up.
Davis X. Machina
Imagine what Die Grundlegung zur Metaphysik der Sitten looks like in 140 character chunks….
schrodinger's cat
I used to text a lot when hubcat and I lived about 100 miles away from each other and met only on weekends. And now I don’t, because we are in the same house. What does texting have to do with being racist. Even the premise of this study sounds stupid.
raven
@schrodinger’s cat: We could always careen off topic!
MonkeyBoy
Recent Psych research, e.g. in Mooney’s book, is that people who react quickly do it emotionally and is a common trait of the Right wing (e.g. being forceful and decisive).
Left wingers tend to be more conscious and weigh their initial impulses before reacting. It is even possible to get left wingers to behave more like the right if you interfere with their ability to think before speaking (alcohol is one method).
sylvan
@John:
.
Not sure if serious.
jeffreyw
Thread needz moar kitteh!
MikeJ
@sylvan: It’s just a shorthand way to argue against the newspaper’s synopsis of a study without even bothering to read the newspaper article, much less the study.
schrodinger's cat
@jeffreyw: How is your crew? Any new pics?
ETA: Sleeping bebbeh kitteh is squee. I died from the cute.
Ben Franklin
Shallow? Maybe. It’s quick like a jet speeding over the midwest. You get there faster, but you don’t see much on the ground compared to a road trip.
I prefer slow. What I don’t like about the culture is it’s all techno-gadget oriented. It infuriates me to see ads wrt the newest device on earth, which must be purchased immediatley, as though conferring brilliant status on the consumer. The guy next to you gets his data .003 milliseconds earlier than you, and this makes him a genius?
I know it’s marketing genius, but the idiots who stand in line for 2 days to be the first on their block?
FTS
Ultraviolet Thunder
I TXT to send info at work and to keep in touch with my wife when I’m hundreds of miles away for days.
I hate talking on the phone. Don’t know why, but it’s very stressful for me. I like TXT because it keeps the phone calls to a minimum.
And yes, 18 year olds are for the most part shallow, self absorbed and way too involved in their own age cohort.
schrodinger's cat
I has more lol kitteh for the thread. It is on the voting pages. Give it a thumbs up if you like it.
JPL
hmmm. Deep question and I guess my answer would be maybe yes, maybe no.
DanF
At the very least it might help explain all the misspelled signs.
aimai
@John:
I had a friend who did nothing but these studies. She is a professor at a well respected midwestern university. She does these weird studies of “trust” where she uses freshmen girls and some stupid system thats entirely computer based. I was just astonished. But these studies are quite common. Its the opposite of ethnography–its entirely artificial.
MikeJ
@aimai:
I eagerly await the Penthouse Letters conclusion to this story.
Belafon (formerly anonevent)
So, what we know is that psychologists who would rather text than talk to people tend to be racist – and probably all sorts of other biased.
schrodinger's cat
@aimai: Cookie cutter research FTW! How is this science?
Scamp Dog
So I tried clicking through the links to see what the actual study said, and the trail went dead before getting to the study. This make me wonder if “more racist”, “less likely to believe”, etc is on the level of 1.5% drop or something similarly trivial. But as long as we get to bash those young ‘uns for their hippity hop music and baggy pants and all, that’s the important thing.
La Caterina (Mrs. Johannes)
@jeffreyw: whew! Just in the nick o’ time. This thread was gasping for kitteh.
Amir Khalid
I’m not convinced that the study even establishes the claimed correlation. How do the researchers know that the students they surveyed sent as many, or as few, texts as claimed? Did they check the students’ cellphone bills? Or that the students prioritise living an ethical life as much, or as little, as claimed? (Damned if I know how one would even try to keep track of this.)
Nor do I see even a hint of anything beyond empty speculation about causation.
ruemara
watching light fare while writing about seafood sustainability and applying for jobs while Kage assists me by lying around and showing me his tummy.
Ultraviolet Thunder
There’s one interesting computer test for bias and racism. Test subjects match words to ‘like’ and ‘don’t like’. By analyzing the speed and direction of cursor movement the psychologists can discern the test subject’s hesitation and intentionally overcoming initial reactions. This reveals bias and intent no matter what answers are given.
scav
@aimai: It is just vast laziness. I could see using such tools and pools when teaching students how to run tests, play with statistics, etc. but extending them to anything much beyond — even as studies of college students, they’re a bit problematic. At least one school I attended made participation in a study as subject mandatory for anyone taking some of the intro psych classes. Makes sense from an instructional standpoint but come on, from a sampling perspective?
quannlace
100 texts a day? Shit.
jeffreyw
@schrodinger’s cat: Everyone is fine, no up to the minute photos of anyone but I’ll take one of whoever you would like to see. Whomever?
Anya
My husband and I and every single young person I know text all the time. I text more than I talk on the phone. We’re not racists, assholes, shallow or a reckless drivers (I rarely drive) so DIAF old geezers, and fuck your biased studies.
TaMara (BHF)
Feel guilty, so I made you something pretty.
Accordion Potatoes
Easy, too.
Amir Khalid
@jeffreyw:
Whomever.
schrodinger's cat
@jeffreyw: They are all adorable. I has a soft spot for both Bitsy and Homer, since I have seen them as bebbeh kittehs. So you take your pick.
aimai
@MikeJ:
You know what? You are so right. I knew even as I was typing that out that it was coming out badly.
schrodinger's cat
@Amir Khalid: Grammar Police!
scav
@TaMara (BHF): seconded. My mother makes those with fresh rosemary on top.
Mark S.
You know who else sent over a hundred texts a day?
RobertDSC-iPhone 4
I prefer texting because I hate talking on the phone. The only hate I have is for Republicans and their Teabagger buddies.
raven
Navy Bean soup with kale and cornbread up in the pan!
sylvan
@MonkeyBoy:
There are those who dwell in the mountain.
Mark S.
@quannlace:
That’s what I’m thinking. That’s more than I’ve sent in my entire life.
Also, some of my best friends are people of color. Suck on that, you racist texters!
John
@sylvan:
Most of the studies that get attention are conducted at R-1 schools, which I would say are, in a general sense, elite. Not all of them are Harvard, but flagship state schools are pretty damned elite compared to the general population. In this case, I suppose Winnipeg is not a particularly elite university, but I think the rule applies in general – and only 29% of Canadians aged 25-34 have any kind of bachelor’s degree, so even someone graduating from one of the worse universities is considerably better off than the population as a whole. And that’s not even getting into the advantages that virtually all North Americans have over the vast majority of people from the Global South.
aimai
@Ultraviolet Thunder:
I took that test. Its very interesting since they really switch it up testing speed of reaction and whether you instinctively “like” or dislike something as well as how well you can discriminate visually beween races and genders. Its supposed to be hard to game because it forces you to answer the “questions” –and most of it is not questions–both consciously and unconsciously. Much to my surprise I scored as extremely non subconsciously racist–that is I scored about the same as a black person or a little better. And I’m white. I don’t think its because I have no conscious or unconscious bias, though, because I’m sure I do. If you try to have a loving attitude towards all the images you are shown you score better, I think. If you never let yourself see any image of a person as threatening you score better.
Amir Khalid
@schrodinger’s cat:
“Who saw what, and why, and where? Let him give a full description, let him answer to Javert!”
Violet
@TaMara (BHF): Wow! Love these! I’m going to try them tonight, I think. I was in the mood for baked potatoes, but had had them a few nights ago, so didn’t really want to repeat. This is perfect. Thanks!
The prophet Nostradumbass
@Mark S.: Breitbart?
raven
@Anya: I’m just finishing “Younger Next Year”. It’s an entertaining book about exercise, nutrition and doing things that “mean” something to you in retirement. It’s a few years old but I laughed when they recommended using “email” to establish and maintain communication with folks you care about.
Debbie(aussie)
@jeffreyw:
Jeffrey that cutie is so little, lost his/her Mum? Oh and the file name on these pics thru me a bit inner solutions’:)
Mike in NC
Big TV night: Amazing Race, Mad Men, & Game of Thrones.
Amir Khalid
@Debbie(aussie):
If I’m not mistaken, the little one is from a family (mother and seven kittens) whose picture jeffreyw posted a few days ago.
raven
@Mike in NC: Call The Midwife and Mr. Selfridge up in here. The fucking commercials on Mad Men make it a perfect fit for the DVR.
jeffreyw
@schrodinger’s cat: Here’s Homer having a nice roll on the sidewalk. And a few seconds later he’s in full gallop racing after Mrs J to take part in a nice walkabout.
Ultraviolet Thunder
I’m sitting indoors watching my yard work get done. This is the first time I’ve ever paid for yard cleanup. Working on the road so much now I just don’t have time for that when I’m at home on weekends. So I’m designing a headphone amplifier kit today while someone else digs out my soggy leaves.
Man, professionals do a much better job of this than I do, and quicker.
schrodinger's cat
@jeffreyw: Nice pictures, he looks a a slimmer version of Tunch.
raven
@jeffreyw: Goddamn, looks like a gazzelle!
jeffreyw
@schrodinger’s cat: And here’s one of Bitsy heading in the same general direction.
raven
@Ultraviolet Thunder: Funny, we are doing a major addition on our house and I have been busting my ass getting ready for it.
raven
@jeffreyw: Where’s that bird dog?
Higgs Boson's Mate
Texting reminds me of Monty Python’s Summarize Proust Competition.
Violet
@Ultraviolet Thunder: Whatever your reason for hiring a yard crew, once you do, it’s really, really hard to go back to doing it yourself. It’s just so nice to have them show up, make your yard look nice and you don’t have to do the work.
jeffreyw
@raven: Here’s one of ’em.
raven
@jeffreyw: Aw look at that dude!
Mnemosyne
I’m also in the “hate the phone, so I text instead” category. I have to spend so much damn time on the phone at work all day that I don’t want to have to pick it up for personal calls. Fortunately, both my best friend and my mom like texting, so I’m able to stay in touch.
G laughed at me the other day because I was sitting in the living room and texted him in the office (about 100 feet away, if that), but it was the easiest way to send him a link I wanted him to look at.
Also, too, still feeling crappy and congested. I had to pick up a prescription because it starts today, so I dragged myself to one more yarn store, giving myself a yarn crawl total of two. But they felt really sorry for me and let me win something in the raffle, so at least I had pity on my side.
raven
I KNOW you are all dying to see how my fish head project turned out!
Yutsano
@Mnemosyne: I talk all damn day on the phone, so as soon as I get home from work the last thing I want to do is talk on it. So I do a bunch of texting instead. It’s also convenient for annoying my youngest brother because he hates it. Life occasionally has perks.
@raven: Now how am I supposed to make a stew out of that? :)
Mnemosyne
Also, in the realm of adorable tiny animals, may I introduce you to the pudu, the world’s smallest true deer?
I wanted to steal one from the zoo and bring it home, but G thought there might be some kind of “law” against keeping endangered species in an apartment. Enemy of fun, that’s what he is.
raven
@Mnemosyne: OK, long as we are doing cute critters!
Higgs Boson's Mate
@raven:
Watch out! This fish has bones in it.
Mnemosyne
@raven:
So are you going to hang it on the wall like that, or try to reassemble it?
Suffern ACE
@Yutsano: hmmm. So you send your brother messages in a medium you think will hurt him. Would you like to relax on that couch over there so we can explore that a little?
Yutsano
@raven: ITZ JUST SO FLOOFY!!
raven
And then there is my little girl looking out the window.
sylvan
@John:
Do you think Phil Kessel and JVR will be a good combination going into the playoffs?
srv
If you make more than 50 tweets, texts or facebook updates a day, you’ve got more issues than racism.
I wonder how many people comment more than 50X a day at blogs?
Maybe mistermix can grep that answer.
raven
@Mnemosyne: Shadow box. The 4 smaller sets of teeth are actually in their throat and called Pharyngeal teeth. If I reconstructed it they would be hidden. I had no idea what they were when I had to sift through the flesh eating beetles to get them out. I was really having second thoughts about a month ago but I’m really glad I did it now.
Ultraviolet Thunder
@Violet:
It’s one guy. He’s a friend and former colleague. has his own landscaping company on the side and does athletic fields professionally. Bonus: I get the inside dope on what’s happening at my former employer.
This summer I’m just not going to be home to mow the grass and whack weeds. Might as well pay and have it done right rather than fret about not being able to do it myself.
raven
@Higgs Boson’s Mate: Pharyngeal teeth !
raven
@Ultraviolet Thunder: Plus he can do the batters boxes and line the field. I did that shit for SIX years.
JPL
@raven: Do you now have it mounted and place over the fireplace?
Randy P
Texting has become the primary means of communication during the day between me and my wife. You know you won’t be ringing their phone at an inopportune moment, you know they’ll get the message sooner or later, and you know if you don’t get an immediate response it’s not a good time.
And we have a standing agreement not to text while driving no matter what. I’ve sent her a couple that ended in “aiiieeeee!!!!”. She was not amused.
raven
Bohdi’s watchin too!
Bubblegum Tate
@Anoniminous:
The next level is their “clever” capitalization:
“the pResident”
“ObAMATEUR”
And so forth.
raven
@JPL: No, that’s the 6ft Yellowfin. We’ll see where it goes, the princess does most of those determinations. I do want to put it next to a picture of the actual fish so people get and idea of what’s what.
? Martin
@Randy P:
Same here, but it’s only a few texts per day. And prior to the texts there were roughly zero phone calls during the day. Texts per month is probably on the order of 100.
Not surprised that people that communicate primarily in 140 character batches are more racist. No room for subtlety in that space, stereotypes are a matter of practicality, so you get them coming and going.
Mnemosyne
@Randy P:
Yep. Especially for stuff like, “I’m stopping at the store on my way home, do we need anything?” I will also text G with amusing anecdotes during the day just for the hell of it.
Anya
@raven: What? No love for texting? Probably written by someone over 40;-)
? Martin
What could go wrong?
Too young to vote, to drink, to vote, even to register an account on the internet. But hey, let’s give a 5th grader an AR-15 and an attitude!
Yutsano
@? Martin: How in the holy fuck does an 11 year old know if the gun is loaded or not? And if he has to say that, then it needs to be taken away from him. He can pout about his Constitutional rights all he wants, he’s a fucking CHILD, he has zero business carrying around something he can’t control. Where the fuck were his parents?
raven
@Anya: This book was written before texting.
raven
@Yutsano: By pulling back the charging handle and looking?
Mnemosyne
@? Martin:
Something like this, maybe?
Four-year old shoots, kills deputy’s wife at Tennessee cookout
What kind of fucking idiot brings loaded guns to a family cookout to show them off, and then leaves them unattended where a child can pick them up?
raven
@Mnemosyne: Not that it matters but the gun was in the house.
Yutsano
@raven: You’ll forgive me, and maybe it’s a character flaw, but I don’t fucking trust the judgment of an 11 year old child to know shit about a gun. Parents have lost custody over things like this.
Omnes Omnibus
@Yutsano: I knew to how to clear a weapon at that age. I also knew that they weren’t toys and that one did not bring them to school.
raven
@Yutsano: I’m not arguing about it.
Mnemosyne
@raven:
Yes, and so was the child. Again, what kind of fucking idiot is showing off his loaded guns inside the house?
ETA: And if the next question is, “How was he supposed to know the kid was going to grab the gun?” that’s why you don’t fucking show off your fucking loaded weapons inside the fucking house.
a hip hop artist from Idaho (fka Bella Q)
@jeffreyw: What different attitudes the kittehs show. So nice to see Homer and Bitsy so big and shiny (and fast!). Any recent pictures of my beloved Katie?
ETA : Thanks! I should have known raven would be me to it.
Yutsano
@Omnes Omnibus: I still wanna know where in the fuck the parents were. Some enterprising state social worker could get them in a HUGE amount of trouble over this.
raven
@Mnemosyne: I don’t have a next question, in fact, I didn’t have a first question.
Anne Laurie
@raven:
I’ve seen shadow boxes like the one you want with a photo of the angler & his catch “framed” inside the layout of teeth. Certainly establishes context!
a hip hop artist from Idaho (fka Bella Q)
@Omnes Omnibus: I knew how to clear a weapon at that age too, as well as that they weren’t toys and one did not bring them to school. They were tools, to be respected, because mishandling could be dangerous. Same points were made about the lawn mower, table saw, and I believe automobile. I was not permitted to drive at that age, though I did dive a tractor on farm property by about 13.
raven
@Anne Laurie: I also saw one that used sandpaper as backing to give the beach effect.
Ben Franklin
@Yutsano:
Are you a fucking parent?
Omnes Omnibus
@Yutsano: Should, not could.
@a hip hop artist from Idaho (fka Bella Q): I have never driven a tractor. My countryside experience is woodsy not farmy.
The Moar You Know
@Yutsano: Driving him there, videotaping the whole thing, praying someone will give them some pretext for a lawsuit.
I knew at that age how to make sure a gun was unloaded, and knew you were supposed to. I also knew that taking one out in public was absolutely not ok (because it wasn’t ok for anybody, not me or an adult or anyone who wasn’t a cop, because we acted like sane people in those days) and would probably get me shot. And would definitely get me spanked.
raven
@Omnes Omnibus: Here’s the important thing. If you are bushoging on a slope KEEP the bushog down.
a hip hop artist from Idaho (fka Bella Q)
@raven: Not for beginners. Great Lil Bit and Bohdi pictures. And the redfish skull is gorgeous.
@Omnes Omnibus: Tractors are fun, and I’ve had more fun driving them than I should admit. BTW, I’m sending an app to be a juvie/probate mag in the reddest county in the state, as it’s a current opening and the nonprofit may not be fiscally able to continue my salary.
Omnes Omnibus
@a hip hop artist from Idaho (fka Bella Q):
Cool. Break a leg.
ranchandsyrup
Getting a bunch of work done while the ladies are at a baby shower. Multitasking by making my wife’s fave choco chip/oatmeal/toffee cookies because she texted that the food wasn’t so great at the party.
Keith G
@raven: I took your advice. The cable gets attached on Wednesday.
It’s Comcast. I feel like I am letting Satan inside for a stay.
Mnemosyne
@Keith G:
You are, but since your choices are between Satan and Beelzebub, it’s not like there was a better option.
raven
@Keith G: Keep me posted.
Julie B
Texting is a very impersonal way to communicate, one that maintains a greater emotional distance between yourself and the other person than just about any other type of communication (except tweeting).
When you consider that sociopathic-type people (users/abusers/losers) are those who value personal, material “success” and don’t value human connections, who look at other people as merely a means to their end, whatever that may be, the correlation makes total sense.
Suffern ACE
@Julie B: and if you’re “shallow” in this definition, you might have more people to communicate with. If you’re measuring success in monetary terms, you might also have a tendency to evaluate popularity by the number of social bonds you have. Texting allows someone to maintain a large friend account similar to a bank account.
Also, if the shallow are overly concerned with physical appearances, texting might actually allow someone to avoid the disappointment that comes from interacting with less than perfect actual humans.