Hail the New Texting Champion!
Written by Jerry Roberts. Follow me on Twitter.
Change, Communication, Management

photo by moriza
There’s a contest for seemingly everything these days so I wasn’t surprised when I caught the news that we had crowned a new texting champion. That’s right, America has a new text message superstar, 15-year-old Kate Moore of Des Moines, Iowa.
Moore outpaced 20 finalists from around the country over two days of challenges such as texting blindfolded and texting while maneuvering through a moving obstacle course. Okay, there’s some creativity involved with that.
Let’s make it more meaningful
Maybe they should have added adult activities such as texting while trying to give the boss the impression that you’re actually working, or texting in a meeting because you’re bored out of your skull. How about texting in the drive-thru window while trying not to mess up orders?
C’mon, at least these are applications that Kate and millions of people her age will find useful when they enter the world of work.
What floored me was how much time she spends popping out text messages. She claims to send 400 to 470 texts each day, about 14,000 a month. I know people who send 10, 20, maybe 30 a day. We’re surprised when we hear of people who text 50 times per day.
But 470?
How long does the average text message take to pound out? A minute? Maybe 30 seconds for speedsters like Kate?
If only a half-minute each that would be at least four hours of texting per day.
Don’t look now…
Well, Kate and her friends are coming to a workplace near you and you’re going to have to deal with a group of young folks who never put the phone down. I know, I have a granddaughter who is 14 and I swear the thing is now a part of her hand.
“I’m sorry, doctor, but drawing blood requires the use of both hands and I’m just not prepared to put my phone down at this time, so I have to respectfully decline your request to help this patient.”
Yes, I’m playing around with this post, but there’s a real message here as well. There are a lot of Kates out there and they’ve got far different communication habits than the Gen Y crew we deal with now.
If we think it’s tough to get and keep young workers focused today, what’s it going to be like when their kid brothers and sisters start showing up?
Is there a 12-step program for texters?
Will Kate and her friends be able to curb their addiction during working hours? Are you willing to compromise and let your employees text their friends, say, an hour a day out of the eight you pay for? Seems fair. They can knock out 100-120 texts on your nickel, and do the heavy lifting once they’re off duty.
Is this exaggeration? I don’t know. Nobody knows.
We can say that we’re going to impose standard workplace rules on this new wave of workers and that they’ll adapt, as all previous generations have, but that’s not an entirely true picture. The workplace has also adapted and changed with each new group, and it will again.
I’m just not sure how.
But maybe I know some folks who can help me figure it out
Most of the people in my company are under 30 and almost all are wedded to some form of handheld device. They’re not anything like Kate, but I wouldn’t want to be the one who had to try to take their phones away.
At our next meeting I’m going to ask their opinions on this issue and how they would handle a new generation with different communication skills and expectations. I’ll let you know what they say.
I have to go now.
I’m 468 texts behind Kate for the day.
Gotta get busy!
If you’re reading this while texting, you’re the perfect person to comment on this post! Even if you did it the old fashioned way, while eating chips or downing a latté, go ahead and let me know what you think.

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