photo courtesy flickr user pfv
You can pretty much do anything with texting. You can Google, make purchases, donate money, and have inappropriate photographic interactions. But what you can’t do – what is not nearly as effective – is get help in a serious situation. In the Why They Run Report, 80% of teens say they want to talk to someone to gauge how much they can trust them. This makes sense; it’s harder to trust pixels than a real human voice. It’s not easy to always have a person at the ready to help in complicated situations, but the National Runaway Switchboard does it. Twenty four hours a day, every day, there is someone who is able to have meaningful and helpful interactions with anyone who calls. Through volunteers and staff, NRS makes sure that whenever someone needs a voice they can trust, not just a collection of words on the screen, there is a place they can turn.
- Will