“Girls Text Really Weird”: Gender, Texting and Identity Among Teens

Abstract

This article examines the strategies used by teenagers for interacting with members of the opposite sex when texting. This article uses material from a series of nine focus groups from 2009 in four US cities. It reports on the strategies they use and the problems they encounter as they negotiate this portion of their lives. Texting is a direct, person-to-person venue where they can develop their gendered identity and also investigate romantic interaction. In this activity, both genders show the ability to make fine-grained interpretations of texts, often interpreting the meaning of punctuation and other paralinguistic devices. In addition, they use texts to characterize the opposite sex. Teen boys' texts are seen as short and perhaps brisk when viewed by girls. Boys see teen girls' texts as being overly long, prying and containing unneeded elements. The discussion of these practices shows how teens engage in their sense of gender.

Keywords::

• texting
• teens
• gender
• mobile phones
• teen identity

Notes

^1. Clearly teens have different understandings of what constitutes a romantic relationship. We did not impose a definition but rather we respected their normative sense of this.

^2. Indeed, in the press, it is reported that text use is falling among teens (Vincent, 2014).

^3. This group is admittedly slightly older than the teens interviewed in this study.

^4. We had no selection criteria filter for sexual orientation of the teens; indeed, this type of approach would have likely precluded IRB approval. The recruiting firm took measures for balance by recruiting from different areas (urban, suburban, and rural), but the socio-demographics were not accounted for.

^5. BS is a common English expletive standing for “bullshit.” It is often used to indicate something that is deceptive or insincere.

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Rich Ling

Rich Ling (Ph.D., University of Colorado, sociology) is the Shaw Foundation Professor of Media Technology, at Nanyang Technological University, Singapore, he also works at Telenor Research and has an adjunct position at the University of Michigan. Ling has studied the social consequences of mobile communication for the past two decades. He has written The mobile connection (Morgan Kaufmann, 2004), New Tech, New Ties (MIT, 2008) and most recently Taken for grantedness (MIT, 2012). He is a founding co-editor of Mobile media and communication (Sage) and the Oxford University Press series Studies in Mobile Communication. IT University of Copenhagen, Copenhagen, Denmark. E-mail: [email protected]

Naomi S. Baron

Naomi S. Baron is Professor of Linguistics and Executive Director of the Center for Teaching, Research, and Learning at the American University in Washington, DC. A former Guggenheim Fellow and Fulbright Fellow, she is interested in the effects of technology on language, social interaction, cognition, and individual well-being. Her most recent book is Words Onscreen: The Fate of Reading in a Digital World (Oxford). American University, Washington, DC, USA. E-mail: [email protected]

Amanda Lenhart

Amanda Lenhart is Associate Director, Teens, at the Pew Research Center, where she leads the Center's research on young adults, teens, children, and families, with a focus on technology and digital media. She is the author of more than 30 reports for the Center, including Teens, Social Media and Privacy and Teens, Smartphones and Texting. Lenhart is also an affiliate of the Berkman Center for Internet and Society at Harvard University. Pew Project on Internet and American Life, Washington, DC, USA. E-mail: [email protected]

Scott W. Campbell

Scott W. Campbell, Ph.D. is Pohs Professor of Telecommunications and Associate Professor of Communication Studies at the University of Michigan. His research helps explain mobile communication behaviors and consequences. Campbell's work is published in Journal of Communication, Human Communication Research, Communication Monographs, Communication Research, New Media & Society, Mobile Media & Communication, and other scholarly venues. He has also co-edited two books (with Rich Ling) for the Mobile Communication Research Series and collaborated on industry reports with the Pew Internet & American Life Project. University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, USA. E-mail: [email protected]