<p>And how it impacts students' learning to be independent. </p>
<p>In</a> touch too much? Kids head off to college -- with mom and dad just a text away - latimes.com</p>
<p>The short piece addresses constant communication and negative aspects. </p>
<p>The OP title allows me to say how good emails and cell phones/voice mail can be for parent child relationships. They allowed me to send easy “letters” that were typewritten, received the day written and able to be read at son’s convenience, much faster and no misheard content. The format improved our rocky relationship- he could receive my input without needing to listen to me. He actually saved my emails and could reread them- I suspect he would have lost or discarded snail mail. So much better than trying to reach a college student on a conventional phone- could talk when he had time while waiting to pick up a sub, while walking… And yet with caller ID he could ignore phone calls and not respond to requests at his leisure. I don’t text. </p>
<p>I am amazed at those who talk/text every day and who know so many details. We got closer, but still so much further apart than those people. I guess our ultra independent son found it easier to keep his distance with electronic communications and yet keep in touch more.</p>
<p>Our D had a very rough adjustment to college, and DH and I believe that technology only made it harder. She was terribly homesick, and it was easy and comfortable for her to stay electronically tied to the past. She closed herself off from college peers and chose to spend her free time texting, IM-ing, and skypeing with her HS friends and with us. She texted me a dozen times a day, and it was almost always negative.</p>
<p>By contrast, when I was a homesick freshman, I had no choice but to make friends at college – they were the only people around. Communicating with Mom and Dad meant an expensive long-distance phone call, or a hand-written letter, neither of which is a good option when you just want a buddy to talk to, right now.</p>
<p>Come sophomore year, D completely turned herself around and the messaging dropped off to a reasonable rate. The more infrequent her texts, the busier and happier she was.</p>
<p>Don’t get me wrong; I wouldn’t trade the ease and speed of instant communication for the prehistoric communications of my college time. It’s great to be able to fire off an email reminding her to get her FA forms in, or to receive a text telling me that she got an A on her midterm. But it definitely can be a double-edged sword.</p>
<p>I disagree wholeheartedly; on so many levels…can’t explain why, because if I do, my IRL persona will definitely be recognized…</p>
<p>suffice it to say that it has definitely been for “the better” in my mother-daughter relationship w D1</p>
<p>and the parent in the article who stated “it has to be on my son’s terms” is 100% on target…</p>
<p>whenparentstext.com</p>
<p>(hilarious)</p>
<p>^^ Completely!! (and D told me yesterday that she’s submitted one of our conversations)</p>
<p>rodney, were you disagreeing with my post, or the OP?</p>
<p>hahaha…I disagree w the article…sorry, should have specified; I was distracted while posting…I actually totally agree with your post</p>
<p>I don’t think one can make a generalization that the increase in parent/child communication is all bad…</p>
<p>I think about this a lot. I wonder how my mom made it when I started driving and ran off with friends…and there was no cell phone or texting so she could have immediate knowledge of where I was in the world at any time. </p>
<p>Of course if you ask my 17 year old she probably wishes she didn’t have a phone at times…</p>
<p>Actually, technology has increased contact with my kids. They’d likely be in a black hole otherwise. Many parents I know whose kids grew up right before all of this technology say that there were years they never had contact with their young adult kids. So it was for me when I was in college and for some years out of it.</p>
<p>There can be too much as well, but I like that we have more options.</p>
<p>My mother who is in her 80s loves television and watches it most of the day. She laments her mother’s dying years when there wasn’t such a thing and she had nothing to entertain her. My grandmother had a degenerative condition that made her an invalid for years, and yes, tv and many of the modern things could have so improved her quality of life. Not to say there are not the draw back.</p>
<p>Right now I am cursing the “smartness” of these smart phones that are smart enough to get a big fat monthly payment out of me.</p>
<p>It worked very well for us - D would call when she was between classes while walking from here to there, or if she were bored, or whatever. I was able to text or e-mail her without worrying if she were in class or sleeping or whatever her schedule might have been. I didn’t have to keep calling her room until she answered or worry where she was at 2 AM when I tried to reach her since 9 PM (as my mother did). I could shoot off a text or e-mail, as she could too, when we thought of something, without having to write it down so I could remember to tell her when we spoke at our “scheduled time.”</p>
<p>Much easier.</p>