Sorry. Your brother sounds like a difficult character.
Like many folks above, I send (and check) texts very often for short immediate exchanges and use email for longer ones. Comms with friends are largely by text while work is with both.
I do have a pet peeve related to this at work. People in my team communicate by email (MS Outlook) but also send texts through iMessage, WhatsApp, and Teams. I only see the Teams texts if I am on my computer and have the program open (my choice). But what bugs me is that like many people, I save old communications as a record for future reference. If I have to look in four different places it is a pain, and searching texts does not work well.
And as for composing on a phone, I have the fattest thumbs in the world. It might take me six attempts to type the word ‘in’ as I will repeatedly hit the O key instead of I. Drives me batty. Might as well be typing with my elbows.
I do this a lot, too, but it’s not a huge problem. I just go ahead and type the wrong one, then tap on the word and use the suggested words at the top of the keyboard to pick the other one.
It’s annoying, but it works. Though most people just get used to the fact that on and in can get mixed up, and you can miss that it happened.
I’m use both. I honestly prefer e-mail because I’m unnecessarily verbose and prefer to bludgeon my friends into senselessness with multi-paragraph missives (back in the snail-mail days I was known to write multi-page letters on the rare occasions I bothered). But I’m perfectly fine with texts and use them all the time, especially as many prefer them these days even in my age group.
But it is a fact I’m not tethered to my phone, especially on weekends. I can and will put it down and not look at it for half a day or more (I NEVER post to the SDMB on a phone, screen is too damn small). So my response time is not necessarily awesome. I might respond in five seconds if you catch me at the right moment. It might be tomorrow if you didn’t.
My phone and my tablet (large screen) are synchronised, so I receive emails and text messages on both devices at the same time, I can react within minutes. My phone reminds me with a sound if I didn’t read the message every ten minutes until I read it. It is not much of a difference for me if you contact me via text or email. Text messages are replied on the larger tablet screen since it is more comfortable to write on.
I’m in my mid-to-late 20s. Theoretically, I’d prefer texting over phone calls. But text-messaging is an asynchronous medium by design that has been used predominantly as a substitute for real-time conversation. Shooting off a quick “hi” will incur an entire thread of response that I just simply don’t have the energy to deal with.
If you text me I will read it immediately but my response might just be a thumbs up, or brief sentence. If you email me, it might take a week or two to get back to you but it will be well thought out with paragraphs and all that stuff.
ETA: I really don’t like talking on the phone. I like to be able to have a comfortable silence, but that’s not possible with a phone call.
I hate texting. Messages have to be short, and typing texts is difficult on my tiny little phone – but for all other purposes, the small size is very convenient.
All my routine electronic communication, business and personal, is via email. I’m on my computer most of every day, and my email client automatically checks for new messages every five minutes. Those who say they may not see emails for a long time obviously don’t have it set up this way.
Whereas it’s texts that I’m more likely to miss – sure, the phone notifies me, but fat lot of good that does when I might go for many days without even looking at it. I’m not one of those for whom a smartphone is practically a permanent attachment to their own body. To me it’s a convenience that’s occasionally important but actually quite rarely used.
I have an old landline, and no smartphone. I’ve never texted anyone, and barely even use email; if someone wants to talk to me they can use the phone or regular-mail me.
For some of the people I want to contact, I have a 5-9 hour time difference, so I rarely use texting with them.
Email is in lieu of writing letters or for planning something in a few months. Texting is for sharing jokes or for planning a meet up on the same day, or within a week.
The only person I do regular electronic communication with is my GF who lives 250 miles away. We use email the most but to just send a quick note or photo we’ll use text or FB Messenger or Whatsapp. We do a quick Zoom call once a week. I may only send a text to someone else about once a month.
My phone is usually nearby but is on silent so I’ll only notice a text when I unlock it.
This is a feature I have chosen by myself, I could easily switch it off if necessary. And it doesn’t mean I need to answer immediately, as soon as I tick “read” it stops. The feature helps me not to forget to check the phone after I come back from the garden from where I don’t hear it ringing.
I beg to differ, dear heart. Posted letters, either handwritten or typed (especially for those of us with execrable handwriting) is at least as civilized. Slow communication, like slow food, is the future.
Ditto. My wife occasionally send me texts, but I have no idea how to go about sending one myself.
When I put my phone on the charger it’s usually at least three or four days before I remember to take it off and put it back in my pocket. And when I do, it often stays there until I look at it for some reason and discover that the battery has died.
On the other hand, itmay be a week or two before I think to check my email.
I’d usually agree, except that the deposed ex-wife of the king of Nigeria keeps sending me emails asking to deposit $10,000 in Bitcoin in return for gold ingots.