The false sense of power and the never ending conversations that occur through texting ultimately lead to the destruction of relationships.

Although texting has added many benefits to the daily lives of many, it has created a false sense of power through being in control of deciding to respond. (1) Texting involves a sender and a receiver. As the conversation carries, these roles change from person to person. (2) There is more to these roles than just responding back and forth to one another. (2) In a texting conversation, the person receiving the message maintains a false sense of power by having the choice to respond back. (2) Alexia LaFata, author of the article, “Stop Texting,” acknowledges that by not responding to a text message, the sender gains power. (3) According to Lafata, “So, because we (unfortunately) live in a world in which vulnerability is weakness and a lack of power, sending a text means you just lost a little bit of power. Whoever receives your text has your vulnerability in his or her hands and therefore has the power. The more time that passes without a response, the more power the receiver has. It’s just the science of texting.” (3) In other words, LaFata believes that by a person sending a text, they are vulnerable to being ignored, which in turn results in hurt feelings. (4) LaFata’s theory about the false sense of power is extremely meaningful because it sheds light on how the simple task of texting can cause emotional distress and, ultimately, can be a contributing factor to a ruined relationship. (4) One example that conveys this theory is the feature, “Read Receipts,” on the IMessage feature of the Iphone. (3) This feature allows the person to see when their message has been “read” or seen by the receiver. (3) When a receiver chooses to not respond, their Iphone still displays that they read the message. (3) This can cause various