The Alternate Reality Since the late 1990’s, texting has exponentially risen to become one of the most popular forms of communication. Old High School friends living across the country talk every day, and employers keep constant track of their employee’s whereabouts. It’s fascinating what texting has done for our world, but at what cost? In “Tapping into Text Messaging”, Janet Kornblum examines the proposal that texting has hollowed our mental presence. She cites large communication companies as saying that our physical presence and mental presence are often misaligned. It is indeed an intriguing thought, and is observable on a day-to-day basis. Kornblum presents statistics, cites high authorities, and examines the counterargument to create a very compelling argument. One may be quite skeptical when reading Kornblum’s essay, as texting is such a huge part of modern society. However, Kornblum seems to have quite the resume backing up her argument. Janet Kornblum is an award-winning journalist, who specializes in the field of social media. She’s written about social media for publications such as USA Today and CNET, and even trains other people in her field. It’s fair to say she should know what she’s talking about. For the first two pages, Kornblum uses statistical analysis to show the popularity of text messaging. Her essay was written in 2003 and already 45% of American teenagers had a cell phone! It’s plausible to believe that number is around 95% today. In addition she cites the Cellular Telecommunications & Internet Association for providing a stat that claims texting has grown from 33 million messages in June 2001 to 1 billion messages in December 2002. When these monstrous numbers are put on the table, it really gives a perspective on how prominent the “alternate reality” really is. After all her statistics are put forth, Kornblum proceeds into the meat of her argument. She starts off light, pitching the question, “Is adding yet another communications tool to our already stuffed belts really a good idea?” What’s nice about how she started the argument is that she gave the reader an open-ended question to think about, as a way to get warmed up in a sense. She even adds humor, quoting Paul Saffo as saying, “I’ve seen a lot more people walking into parking meters”. This “primary pitch” sets the tone for the rest of the essay, because Kornblum doesn’t take a strong stance on either side. Next, she cites James Katz as saying, “people may be physically present, but increasingly psychologically absent”. It’s true; one can walk down a street in New York City and notice that most of the people walking by are texting. We’re living in this invisible social world of words appearing on screens. From here on out, it would seem logical for Kornblum to further back her argument on how texting is ruining human mental presence. However, on the contrary, Kornblum examines the other side of her argument: maybe change in human interaction is inevitable? First speech, then writing, then printing – it seems as though texting is just another layer in human evolution. She intelligently makes a case for both sides in order to convince the reader she is unbiased, which in turn creates subconscious pathos. And for this particular argument, most people are probably undecided on which side they favor. On one hand texting is great for fast communication, but on the other hand it’s making us walking zombies. Overall, Kornblum uses highly credible statistics to examine the state of text messaging today. Then, she cites high authority individuals for both sides of the argument, in order to emotionally connect with readers who are not fully committed to either side of the argument.. Lastly, she ends it with yet another non-conclusive but thought provoking statement, “That’s what humans do: We come up with new ways to communicate and new ways to build civilizations”. Her intelligence shines through in the manner she presents her case.