Ethics Topics: Text Messaging

If any technology has changed our lives, it's text messaging. Last time I checked, the average number of texts sent on any given day exceeded 4 billion. That number can only grow from here. Texting is also now one of our most debated topics. States are adopting text messaging bans for drivers. Schools, including Jones County Junior College, are banning cell phones and text messaging from the classroom.

Yet as fast as bans are set, people find ways around them. Teenagers, the most active text messengers by far, are responsible for the immense popularity of a ring tone that cannot be heard by an older ear.

Almost any public event up to and presumably including religious services now includes people fiddling with phones during the event.

This brings us to some questions. Is text messaging at certain times and in certain situations merely rude, or is it unethical? If it is dangerous, does that make it unethical? If it diminishes the experience that others get from the event, does that make it unethical?

Is text messaging during class or during school events a matter of ethics, or is it simply a fact of changing times?

What are some ethical dilemmas you see brought about by a constantly texting society?