Company Hopes to Bridge the Generational Communication Gap as Parents and
Teens Compete In First-Ever TXT Bee -- Do U KNW UR TXT IQ?
ATLANTA, Jan. 18 /PRNewswire/ -- Cingular Wireless, part of the new
AT&T, is putting thumbs to work by hosting a series of interactive TXT Bees
at select high schools throughout the country, with the inaugural event
taking place tomorrow, Friday, January 19th at West Orange High School in
West Orange, New Jersey. AT&T's wireless group will be hosting additional
TXT Bees in Atlanta, Chicago, Los Angeles, Florida and Texas over the next
couple of months.
To help educate parents on text messaging, the AT&T TXT Bee -- a
first-of- its-kind grassroots effort -- utilizes the spirit of competition
to encourage parents to start communicating in the "language" of teens. The
TXT Bees put five parent-teen teams to the "text" in a series of wireless
communications exercises in a fun game-show style environment. The events
are a component of AT&T's TXT2Connect campaign launched in August 2006.
"Texting has become an entirely new forum for young people to
communicate with each other," said Cristy Swink, executive director of
messaging for the company. "To many parents, this new language of text
messaging may often seem irrelevant or appear to be unfathomable. Through
our TXT2 Connect campaign and TXT Bee events, we are helping parents
interact with their kids through text messaging in a fun environment. For
some parents, this may be the first time they've ever tried to text. Once
they see how simple it is, we are hopeful it won't be the last."
The teams will be competing for a $5,000 scholarship and a $5,000
donation to their high school from AT&T.
TXT2CONNECT - A Parent's Text Tutorial
Together with clinical psychologist and parenting expert Dr. Ruth
Peters, Cingular, now AT&T, has developed "TXT2CONNECT - A Parent's Text
Tutorial." The tutorial provides parents with tips from Dr. Peters on how
to better communicate with their kids via text messaging and to understand
popular text messaging lingo.
Contrary to what parents might think, kids want to communicate with
parents - on their own terms. With text messaging, parents can connect with
teens in a more convenient way. Text messaging allows parents to get quick
answers to important questions, give their teen independence while still
staying connected and enter their child's world by using the child's
preferred mode of communications. Texting gives kids more space and allows
parents to keep in touch as often as necessary.
Sixty-three percent of parents who use text messaging believe that it
improves their communication with their children, according to a recent
AT&T survey on text messaging and parents conducted by Mediathink. In
addition, 65 percent of parents who text message say they communicate more
frequently with their children when they are away from home and 64 percent
said that texting made their kids easier to reach.
According to Dr. Peters, text messaging is a great option for parents
and kids to stay in touch because:
- Parents get a quick answer to their questions. This is good for today's
busy kids, who are often in between school and extra-curricular
activities or hanging out with friends, and might not, or in some cases
can't, take the time for a normal conversation.
- Kids are more apt to respond to text messages when they are with their
friends. It is more discreet and their answers don't have to be as
detailed as in a conversation.
- You, or they, don't have to worry about tone of voice. Some kids tend
to become defensive when they hear their parent's tone of voice, which
often results in delayed return phone calls or avoidance. Texting
helps to take tone of voice and misinterpretation out of the mix and
can improve response times.
- Texting allows you to enter your child's world. By using text
messaging, parents can communicate in the style their children are used
to, and become more hip in their children's eyes. An example might be
a parent who sends a text to her daughter on a blind date to ask her
how the date is going. "Is he Mr. Wonderful?" or "Is he a frog or a
prince?"
- Text messaging allows parents to compose and edit a message before
pressing send. If emotion surrounds an issue, Dr. Peters often
counsels parents to write things out before actually saying them to
their kids to help edit their thoughts. By making parents think about
it more, texting removes explosive emotions from potentially charged
communications and situations.
- Texting vs. calling gives kids more space but allows parents to keep in
touch as often as necessary. For instance, it is a good way to double
check their child's whereabouts without nagging.
- Text messaging can also be used to strengthen parent-child bonds, and
let kids know that their parents are thinking of them. Send them a
text wishing them good luck before the school play audition, or let
them know you are thinking of them if there is something they were
concerned about such as a difficult test or a grade.
About AT&T
AT&T Inc. is a premier communications holding company in the United
States and around the world, with operating subsidiaries providing services
under the AT&T brand. AT&T is the recognized world leader in providing
IP-based communications services to business and the U.S. leader in
providing wireless, high speed Internet access, local and long distance
voice, and directory publishing and advertising services. As part of its
"three screen" integration strategy, AT&T is expanding video entertainment
offerings to include such next-generation television services as AT&T
U-verse(SM) TV. Additional information about AT&T Inc. and the products and
services provided by AT&T subsidiaries and affiliates is available at
http://www.att.com.
SOURCE Cingular The New AT&T
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Related links:
http://www.att.com
CONTACT:
Jennifer Bowcock, +1-404-236-6319, or
jennifer.bowcock@cingular.com, or Kelleigh Scott Beal,
+1-404-236-6321, or kelleigh.scott@cingular.com, both of Cingular
Wireless
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