Imagine you are thinking about your assignment for your math class when your phone rings; it’s a text from your teacher reminding you of the problem set due Thursday.
 
For those addicted to texting, this sounds like a dream. For teachers, the idea of having to send texts to their students about assignments would be a nightmare.

 Matt Ritchel of “The New York Times” and Steve Kolowich of “Inside Higher Ed” have addressed the use of e-mail dying out and making way for social networks and texting.

 As far as our social lives are concerned, this is true. More people seem to communicate through texting rather than calling, and getting on Facebook or Twitter rather than e-mailing.

 Since this technologically savvy group includes college students, Kolowich brings up the issue that e-mail might become obsolescent at universities.

 While it might be preferable for some to just use Facebook or texting, the fact is
e-mail is still a primary source of communication on campuses. That’s why every student has their own e-mail address. That’s why the school updated their system to Windows Live this past year. They wouldn’t have done that if the idea of e-mail lost its style and effectiveness was an apparent issue.

 I prefer to communicate with my teachers in person or email. If I had to text them or Facebook message them, it would feel unprofessional and odd.

 We have to be responsible and meet the school halfway and check our emails and Blazeview for updates. It might be a little inconvenient at times but this is life.

 We have to handle a lot of responsibility in college and this is just one of them. It takes less than ten minutes to check and respond to emails. Ten minutes out of a day is not too much to ask for.

 If texting became a primary source of communication in universities, important messages would not be fully explained. Texting is a bunch of shorthand characters and can be easily misinterpreted. With an email, the sender can fully explain the situation and give in-depth details.

 Not every student gets texting, or unlimited texting for that matter, so this would method would be unfair to them. You can also lose or damage your phone but the school provides several places with computers to check your e-mail.

 Along the argument against using texting, one could bring up using a social network as an alternate to the e-mail system. 

 According to Kolowich, universities are not completely receptive to the idea of having outside companies with “a spotty reputation on privacy and no history of institutional partnerships” host their communication services. Universities have to do what they feel is best for students and that includes concerns with our privacy.

 We entrust a lot of information over to the school, from the time we submit our admission application to the time we graduate. I would prefer communicating over a secure system rather than worrying about my school related information falling prey to hijackers.

 E-mail will not become obsolescent anytime soon. Staff members rely on it too much to send notifications out to students. It is easier for them to address an email to the entire student population or class through Windows Live rather than using each individual phone number and sending out text messages.

 If anyone objects to using their e-mail or Blazeview, remember you are in college, you are getting prepped to go out and be on your own. Being on your own requires doing things you don’t want to and being responsible.