I too hated texting, until I was issued a Blackberry, got divorced, and started dating women under 28.
I can’t say I like it now, but it’s at least a normal Blackberry-type level of tolerable.
I’d probably still hate it if I had to triple-tap it.
And by triple-tap it, I mean the phone.
I think I remember saying that I would never use texting. As is so often the case, the never word has come back to bite me.
In general, I’m not nuts about texting. I think that texting someone while you are having dinner with someone else is incredibly rude. We know a teenager who sends 2000 texts a month, which doesn’t even seem humanly possible to me. Also, I type about 100 words a minute, but text like a sluggish turtle, so it’s frustrating for me.
However, it has applications. Our neighbor, with whom we share a lane and fencing and generally have business with regularly, works some crazy-making swing shift and we never know when he’s working, or sleeping, or available. If we need him, we text him. If he’s available, he’ll call. If he’s not, he’ll call when he is. We can get in touch with him without disturbing his much-needed sleep. We use it rather a lot for that, and it’s a great tool.
Texting is for little girls. If it’s not important enough to call them, it’s not important enough to text them. I’ve never used the text function on my cell phone even once.
Back in my day, we didn’t even have cell phones, and dudes got along fine with not having to be updated every time a bro took a piss. Nowadays, nobody can live if they’re not in constant contact with everybody they know.
I thought I would hate texting, but now that I have someone fun to text to, I love it…even though I have to triple tap while he has a full keyboard. I like feeling the phone buzz in my pocket, and know that he’s thinking about me. I like getting a short message from my son about whatever, without it having to be a phone call that I can’t take right then, or a voice mail I won’t have time to listen to (Call VM number. Enter code. Hit pound. Enter code again because didn’t catch one digit even though it is clearly ON THE SCREEN . Hit pound. Listen to menu. Lsten to three other voice mails before getting to the one I need to hear.)
The other day, I laid down to listen to the end of Wait, Wait…and take a nap. I get all cozy in bed, one cat on my chest, one snuggled up to my side…and the program ends and I realize the next program is too loud and I can’t fall asleep. My son is in the next room, but he’s playing a game and can’t hear me. My cell phone was by my side, so…I texted him. From seven feet away. To come turn the radio off. I didn’t have to disturb the cats, or shout (I had a headache, too) and it made him laugh. Another joke for the family dinner table, “The Time Mom Texted Me From Seven Feet Away.” Can’t be a bad thing, right?
I text very sparingly - far less than once a week. I really hated it until I got a Palm Centro which has an actual (tiny) Qwerty keyboard - and now I’ll grant that it has its uses.
For short messages to my wife it has sometimes proved more convenient than a phone call. The idea of carrying on a full-out “conversation” via text message makes my fingers hurt, though.
Thats a darn tootin!
Back in the day, if a man needed a shootin, you just shot him. Otherwise, you just ignored him and got on with doin what needed a doing 
The worst thing is that I really do understand exactly what my parents and grandparents used to say: “But you try tellin’ these kids today that…”.
My favorite excuse that I’ve heard many times is “I’ve got a family emergency and they might need me at once so I can’t turn my phone off.” This might be true once in a blue moon, but it’s odd that it’s the same students who have ongoing family emergencies and that their friends and family apparently aren’t upset enough by said family emergency to not call for idle chit chat. Plus, I periodically had completely real family emergencies (ice, fire, death, and everything in between) for decades before I ever had a cell phone and would you believe that somehow the messages got to me?
I think my least favorite thing about cell phones (hijacking a thread I started) is holiday drives. I admit it may sound selfish, but I have basically an "If I’m there for dinnertime I’ll have dinner but if I’m not I won’t, don’t wait dinner on me, feel free to not fix enough for me- I will survive- but it’s a 4 hour drive between my house and yours and I think “sometime this afternoon” is a perfectly reasonable thing to say, you’ll see me when you see me. When I’m in tractor beam range I’ll give you a call and say “Should be about two hours”, which is also I think reasonable on your end to expect me to do.
My sister however: “Where are you now? YOU’RE STILL AT HOME! YOU HAVEN’T LEFT THE HOUSE YET! YOU’RE NOT EVEN IN THE CAR! TWENTYFOUR MORE VARIATIONS OF SAYING THE SAME THING!!! WHEN ARE YOU GOING TO LEAVE!?” and then all the freaking way down there “Where are you now? And now? Any change? What are you looking at? Have you passed by the house that used to be blue or the place where the old lady looks out the screen door all day yet? Where are you now? How fast are you going?” just absolutely constantly. So I turn off the phone and then get “I was afraid you were in an accident! Don’t do that!”
Bringing it back on topic, I wonder if anybody has been killed yet texting while driving. I’d find it hard to believe they haven’t.
I have no use for texting except for the rare occasion. I’m amazed at the people who will go into a bar by themselves and isolate themselves by texting someone who is not there. It’s a visual oxymoron of communication and social interaction.
AFAIK phones are something to escape from and not to. Texting is just a method of talking in slow motion. What a technological achievement. The only way that could be topped is if people start sending pictures of themselves using sign language.
Wow, look how much better you are than everyone else for being a stick in the mud. :rolleyes:
Texting is useful, and does have a purpose. An on going conversation? No. But a quick message to see where a friend is ebcause you might want to meet up later? Sure. Could I call them? Yeah, but it’s faster (for me, and lots of people who do text) to text. In the amount of time it would take a phone call to start ringing, my text is typed and sent. And then I can maybe send a couple more to other people in the amount of time it would take to have a BS conversation that goes something like this:
Him: Hello?
Me: Hey, what’s up?
Him: not much. You?
Me: Oh, just hanging out at [place]. You coming?
Him: What? (cause he’s someplace loud.)
Me: I’M AT [PLACE]. YOU COMING?!
Him:Oh yeah, in a bit.
Me: Ok ,see you then.
Him: What?
Me: SEE YOU THEN!
Him: Ok, bye.
Me: Later.
Or we can have the following texts:
Me: You, I’m at [place], you coming over?
Him: yeah, in a bit.
Me: Cool, see you then.*
If I have to call five or six people, it would take orders of magnitude longer than just sending them all quick texts, plus I can do other things. A phone call means you’re much more committed, which is good if that’s what you want to do, it shows a level of interest and respect. But there are times when that’s not needed. I don’t care if someone has their full attention devoted to telling me that they’re at a friend’s house, or that they need a ride to work tomorrow.
It seems to me like the phone call option is quicker and easier than the texting. It’s faster to talk than to type, and you get an instant response.
It’s not important to me to know where people are or what their itinerary is. Who gives a shit? People got along fine for thousands of years without having to know where all their buddies were all the time. If I need to ask somebody a question (which I rarely do), I’ll call them. Otherwise, I could give a fuck less. I don’t need to be updated on what they’re getting on their sandwich at subway.
Having said that, I don’t think I even know anybody who texts anyway. I have no social life anymore. I never go out except for work. My friends mostly live out of state. My social circle is my family, my brother and one or two local friends who I talk to on the phone or go to dinner with once in a blue moon.
The one era in my life where I could see something like that coming in handy might have been when I was trying to buy weed, but I suspect the dealers probably ignore texts just like they ignore phone calls.
I never used to text much, but I probably go through almost 3500 incoming and outgoing texts a month now. It’s easier to pass time at work by texting people, than it is talking on the phone.
I’ve never in my life sent a text message. I’m not even sure how to do it.
Even more amazing, I’ve never in my life received a text message, if you don’t count the occasional automatically-generated ones that come from my cell service provider.
Ed
I hates the nasty text messages. I hates them forever. I hope that someday we can communicate with voices in real time over distances. And perhaps if someone is unavailable due to say, lovemaking, they can leave a message with a robot of some sort, but using a recording of the real voice!
Now you kids get off my f’in lawn!!!
wiv u m8.
8 it wen ppl do dat
Texting is useful precisely when you don’t need, or can’t get an instant response. I’m at work and my wife wants me to buy some milk on the way home. Am I in a meeting? Teaching a class? Simply busy? In this context, texting allows the message to get through unintrusively.
Now, kids who send 30, 40 messages per hour… during class? Bring out the ruler!
It is my considered opinion that people spend way too much time on cell phones anyway, and texting seems to be the newest time-wasting fad. I have texted on my Blackberry, but only a few times, maybe my old fingers just don’t want to be abused . I type plenty at work and on the net. There just can’t be that much to jabber about.
I’m a person who rarely texts, but I can certainly see it’s utility. If you are bar hopping, you can tell your group of buddies where you are heading. If it’s a loud environment, it works great. My current phone is a RAZR and it’s a motherfuck to text, especially when one wants to capitalize correctly.
My next phone will be a google phone, and I’ll be texting a whole lot more. However, teen girls texting about whatever the hell they are doing at the moment is the downfall of society and clearly the work of the devil.
I’M GOING TO SLEEP NOW! BYE!
I’M AWAKE NOW AND HAVING CHEERIOS!
I’M TAKING A SHIT NOW!
Capitalizing on the Razr was never a problem for me, I just hit the “up” key and it made whatever I was typing a capital letter. That’s how it is on my new phone, too.
I texted quite a bit when I lived in Poland. I had a pay as you go phone, but texting and incoming calls were free.
I can’t live without text messaging. Well, I could, but it would be much more irritating.
Aside from the fact that I -very much- prefer it to calling someone (simply because I can have BS conversations via text, at both of our leisures), it’s absolutely essential for my job. We need to be in a position to receive constant system updates and notifications, and we have two choices – email or text message. I rarely stay put at my desk, and though I can receive email on my phone, it involves a few more keystrokes to get to “oh, I don’t care about -that- particular notification.” On the iPhone, it pops right up and I can tap “close.”
On the social side, I sleep with my ringer on for emergencies, and sometimes keep odd hours. If someone rang me to ask what I was doing tonight, I’d be pissed. I don’t mind waking up to a few texts of “hey, what are your plans tonight?” It’s equally likely that were I to call them back to let them know, they’d be busy with something else at the time. Asynchronous communication is a godsend. If it’s important, I’ll call you. If it’s not, I’ll text you. 99% of the time, when I’m communicating with my friends and family, it’s not really important.
ETA: Oh, and the obvious benefit – I have unlimited texting, but a finite number of anytime minutes. I don’t mind shooting the breeze when it’s free, but if you start taking up my daytime minutes with small talk, I hope you plan to pay. 