# What are all you people texting about all the time ?! **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [February 5, 2016, 8:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-all-you-people-texting-about-all-the-time/745268 "2016-02-05T20:38:50Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![PatriotGrrrl](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/9dc877/32.png) [@PatriotGrrrl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/PatriotGrrrl)\ **Post date:** [February 6, 2016, 6:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-all-you-people-texting-about-all-the-time/745268/41 "2016-02-06T18:23:21Z")
> [@Voyager](#): > > And I’m the guy behind you fantasizing about sticking your phone where the sun don’t shine because you are busy texting even when the light turns green. So while driving, you are busy fantasizing about sexually assaulting other drivers. And you think _they_ are the distracted ones? ---
**Author:** ![IvoryTowerDenizen](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ivorytowerdenizen/32/17937_2.png) [@IvoryTowerDenizen](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/IvoryTowerDenizen)\ **Post date:** [February 6, 2016, 8:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-all-you-people-texting-about-all-the-time/745268/42 "2016-02-06T20:49:59Z")
> [@Hooleehootoo](#): > > You are on. Imagine you are carrying your infant, presumably the most precious thing in life to you. Tell us what you imagine yourself texting at that time. Even in the dark ages before texting, I was known to do other things while holding my infant. Walking through a parking lot- I’d keep an eye out. But texting while holding an infant is not inherently a dangerous thing. ---
**Author:** ![SCAdian](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/scadian/32/3292_2.png) [@SCAdian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SCAdian)\ **Post date:** [February 6, 2016, 9:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-all-you-people-texting-about-all-the-time/745268/43 "2016-02-06T21:17:18Z")
> [@Bear\_Nenno](#): > > I’m pretty sure that baby in her hands is going to be fine. If her other hand was free doing something else, or carrying another grocery bag, you would not even have noticed. Where is the thread titled “OMG! She had her baby in one hand and a grocery bag in the other!! Why was that grocery bag so important?? She should have both hands on her baby at all times!?” You seem to have a crazy issue with texting. I don’t know about the OP, but I have an issue about people walking through a parking lot and not paying attention to what’s going on around them. Doesn’t matter what they’re carrying. ---
**Author:** ![Periwinkle](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/bbe5ce/32.png) [@Periwinkle](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Periwinkle)\ **Post date:** [February 7, 2016, 12:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-all-you-people-texting-about-all-the-time/745268/44 "2016-02-07T00:43:30Z")
> [@SCAdian](#): > > I don’t know about the OP, but I have an issue about people walking through a parking lot and not paying attention to what’s going on around them. Doesn’t matter what they’re carrying. Yes, that’s exactly what I was thinking. It’s not safe to assume that drivers see you when you’re walking through a parking lot, so doing so while carrying a baby and texting seems like poor judgment to me. ---
**Author:** ![JohnT](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/johnt/32/15048_2.png) [@JohnT](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JohnT)\ **Post date:** [February 7, 2016, 1:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-all-you-people-texting-about-all-the-time/745268/45 "2016-02-07T01:17:34Z")
Looking at my family’s usage last month: Me - 1,248 texts Wife - 265 texts 14yo daughter - 309 texts So we’re texting all sorts of crap, to each other and to others. Why people get bothered over a means of communication is beyond me. ---
**Author:** ![Rigamarole](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/77aa72/32.png) [@Rigamarole](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rigamarole)\ **Post date:** [February 7, 2016, 1:21am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-all-you-people-texting-about-all-the-time/745268/46 "2016-02-07T01:21:39Z")
> [@Annie-Xmas](#): > > The woman who hit me while backing out of her grocery store parking space was texting about the price of oranges. Did she tell you that? (if not, how did you know?) ---
**Author:** ![billfish678](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/7bcc69/32.png) [@billfish678](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/billfish678)\ **Post date:** [February 7, 2016, 1:48am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-all-you-people-texting-about-all-the-time/745268/47 "2016-02-07T01:48:42Z")
> [@funky\_little\_lee](#): > > This is why I don’t want to learn to text. I swear it’s more addictive than heroin. I mean, how many people have to die before anyone is able to forgo texting while driving? > > As a machinist, texting bothers me for an additional reason. It is a spectacularly bad idea to text while operating machinery that can take a limb off in a split-second. Yet the young guys do it constantly. They hide their phones under rags, in their toolboxes, wherever. So far I’ve seen three of them get fired for it. Yet the others keep on doing it. And I can guess what they’re texting to each other: “what r u doin” “nothin u” “nothin”. > > Although, in an ironic twist, this makes us oldies attractive to prospective employers. They know we’re not into it (if we even know how), and are therefore safer than our younger counterparts. > > That’s my billion-dollar idea, in fact: texting rehab centers. Geez, that IS pretty bad. Please let me know when your company goes public. I’d like to invest:) I have this theory. That in about another decade or two, people will be terrified about cave diving. NOT because cave diving can be dangerous as shit. But the idea of not being to text or be internet connected for hours at a time will freak them the fuck out. ---
**Author:** ![rowrrbazzle](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/rowrrbazzle/32/414_2.png) [@rowrrbazzle](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/rowrrbazzle)\ **Post date:** [February 7, 2016, 5:26am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-all-you-people-texting-about-all-the-time/745268/48 "2016-02-07T05:26:00Z")
> [@Rigamarole](#): > > Texting is asynchronous and can be done in short increments when it’s convenient for you. A phone call requires you to focus most of your attention on it for as long as the call lasts. Calling someone is an imposition: “Hey, you need to pay attention to me NOW, for as long as this call lasts.” Say you text someone something that doesn’t require an immediate response. How long does it take before you consider them rude or send another text saying “r u there?” or something similar (and annoyingly elliptical)? > [@Chefguy](#): > > It’s a mystery to me, but then I prefer to know what’s going on around me, rather than what mindless thought just passed through someone’s empty head. > [@Gestalt](#): > > I am a young(ish) fogey, but I am working a lot more on mindfulness and awareness. I have found that, in general, the practice of ALWAYS looking at a small screen in my hand (which I think many people out in public do) instead of paying attention to my surroundings creates a bit of a mental fog. Exactly. “Be here now.” How did we ever function without texting? Or cell phones, for that matter? > [@](#): > > The people who can’t walk without two earbuds in their head, > but can email, text and download without getting out of bed > > They’d none of them be missed, > They never would be missed! ---
**Author:** ![kambuckta](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/53a042/32.png) [@kambuckta](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kambuckta)\ **Post date:** [February 7, 2016, 6:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-all-you-people-texting-about-all-the-time/745268/49 "2016-02-07T06:35:13Z")
I’m lucky to do 10 texts a month. Mostly it is to alert one of my sons to the ‘code word’ on the ‘morning show’ competition when he missed it…he lives in high hopes of being rich one day. 😉 But yeah, there are some who cannot live without their phones within an arm’s reach 24/7, and spend most of their waking hours jabbing away at the little black buttons for WHAT? It infuriates me no end, especially when I am in company with said people. Unless it’s a life-threatening emergency, there is NO REASON why a text needs to be responded to immediately…I’m tempted to take your phone and shove it up your arse! ---
**Author:** ![Voyager](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/voyager/32/133_2.png) [@Voyager](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Voyager)\ **Post date:** [February 7, 2016, 6:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-all-you-people-texting-about-all-the-time/745268/50 "2016-02-07T06:46:35Z")
> [@Lucky\_Mike](#): > > What are you talking about dude? i never once said I texted while driving. > > I will use the bluetooth hands free for conversations (voice activated dialing), but I have no idea where you got from that to “I was texting while driving”. > > Furthermore, I also carpool many times and I am not always driving. > > Oh, and you should probably work on those fantasies of violence man, not healthy. Your desire to stick things up rectums is likely related to some other issues too so seek out counseling there as well. My apologies. I interpreted you saying you were laughing about texts sent earlier to refer to texts you read in the car while driving. I’ve seen tons of unsafe texting behavior, despite the very high fines we have here. It does get me mad. ---
**Author:** ![CairoCarol](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cairocarol/32/3825_2.png) [@CairoCarol](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CairoCarol)\ **Post date:** [February 7, 2016, 7:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-all-you-people-texting-about-all-the-time/745268/51 "2016-02-07T19:19:40Z")
> [@rowrrbazzle](#): > > How did we ever function without texting? Or cell phones, for that matter? Those of us who are old enough remember. It was a totally different world back then, with differing expectations. Sometimes people just didn’t show up when expected. You worried yourself sick if it was someone you cared about, and then - when they eventually found a pay phone - they called to explain that they’d had a flat tire. If you remembered while your son was at school that you needed orange juice, you still had to make a special trip out to buy it, because you couldn’t text him and ask him to pop into the store on his way home from school. I could go on, but the fact is that we simply have different expectations about what’s possible now. I bet when telephones were first invented, people had similar complaints about how they interrupted civilized discourse and the privacy of one’s home - or something. ---
**Author:** ![Antinor01](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/ecae2f/32.png) [@Antinor01](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Antinor01)\ **Post date:** [February 7, 2016, 8:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-all-you-people-texting-about-all-the-time/745268/52 "2016-02-07T20:55:36Z")
> [@MoonMoon](#): > > I, for one, am _shocked_ that there are people on the Dope who don’t understand smartphones, apps and texting. > > #oldgummers I understand texting just fine. I just don’t understand the need to be in constant communication. I don’t have enough to say to anyone to be texting all the time. ---
**Author:** ![Voyager](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/voyager/32/133_2.png) [@Voyager](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Voyager)\ **Post date:** [February 7, 2016, 9:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-all-you-people-texting-about-all-the-time/745268/53 "2016-02-07T21:59:10Z")
> [@CairoCarol](#): > > Those of us who are old enough remember. It was a totally different world back then, with differing expectations. Sometimes people just didn’t show up when expected. You worried yourself sick if it was someone you cared about, and then - when they eventually found a pay phone - they called to explain that they’d had a flat tire. > > If you remembered while your son was at school that you needed orange juice, you still had to make a special trip out to buy it, because you couldn’t text him and ask him to pop into the store on his way home from school. That’s all true and phones are great for those relatively rare situations. But I doubt the two people who are sitting across from one another at a restaurant and texting instead of talking to one another are dealing with shopping lists. ---
**Author:** ![Enderw24](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/ba9def/32.png) [@Enderw24](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Enderw24)\ **Post date:** [February 7, 2016, 10:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-all-you-people-texting-about-all-the-time/745268/54 "2016-02-07T22:09:40Z")
I’m texting my friends to see how long they think we can be on your lawn before you yell at us. ---
**Author:** ![CairoCarol](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cairocarol/32/3825_2.png) [@CairoCarol](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CairoCarol)\ **Post date:** [February 8, 2016, 12:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-all-you-people-texting-about-all-the-time/745268/55 "2016-02-08T00:24:52Z")
> [@Voyager](#): > > That’s all true and phones are great for those relatively rare situations. But I doubt the two people who are sitting across from one another at a restaurant and texting instead of talking to one another are dealing with shopping lists. Don’t worry, if we took away the cell phones of those people who annoy you so much by texting at the dinner table, they would doubtless find another way to upset you. The problem is, you are expressing ire at a perfectly cromulent technology because you don’t like the way a few people are using it - and I am hard pressed to see how it harms you if people want to text at the dinner table, anyway. There’s nothing “relatively rare” about situations where cell phones and texting offer tremendous advantages. Maybe they never occur in your life, but in mine they happen constantly. And I am an old geezer. ---
**Author:** ![snfaulkner](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/snfaulkner/32/433_2.png) [@snfaulkner](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/snfaulkner)\ **Post date:** [February 8, 2016, 1:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-all-you-people-texting-about-all-the-time/745268/56 "2016-02-08T01:25:13Z")
Imagine all the inane and pointless conversations you have with everyone in every day life. In person or on the phone or via email or any other medium. Now just cut it up into chunks of 144 char or less. That is what is being texted. Mostly utterly tedious BS. ---
**Author:** ![Eyebrows\_0f\_Doom](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/eyebrows_0f_doom/32/3119_2.png) [@Eyebrows\_0f\_Doom](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Eyebrows_0f_Doom)\ **Post date:** [February 8, 2016, 4:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-all-you-people-texting-about-all-the-time/745268/57 "2016-02-08T04:59:18Z")
You can text as many characters as you like… ---
**Author:** ![Kaio](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/c68b51/32.png) [@Kaio](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kaio)\ **Post date:** [February 8, 2016, 7:56am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-all-you-people-texting-about-all-the-time/745268/58 "2016-02-08T07:56:03Z")
> [@Lumpy](#): > > What puzzles this old fogey is why people carry on long, multiple-reply text conversations when really they’d do better just to dial the other person and talk to them. Privacy. I’ve heard some _really personal_ phone conversations (often arguments) on public transit, which are awkward to hear even when you can only hear one side. I aim to never be one of those. As for what I text, usually things like “At the store. Are we out of X? Can’t remember.” and “Home in 20 mins, start dinner pls?” and “Fucking wheel broke off the grocery cart. Can you meet me at train station and help me carry?” Sometimes “Running late, be there in 15” when it’s relevant. And sometimes “Here. Where are you?” if I can’t find the party I’m meeting. (Texting is also good for noisy environments when we wouldn’t be able to hear each other on the phone.) I don’t carry on lengthy conversations over text, because typing on something that small is laborious. It’s good for brief exchanges of information though. ---
**Author:** ![JohnT](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/johnt/32/15048_2.png) [@JohnT](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JohnT)\ **Post date:** [February 8, 2016, 1:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-all-you-people-texting-about-all-the-time/745268/59 "2016-02-08T13:05:35Z")
> [@snfaulkner](#): > > Imagine all the inane and pointless conversations you have with everyone in every day life. In person or on the phone or via email or any other medium. Now just cut it up into chunks of 144 char or less. That is what is being texted. Mostly utterly tedious BS. That’s Twitter, not texting. ---
**Author:** ![TheFaerie](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/c57346/32.png) [@TheFaerie](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TheFaerie)\ **Post date:** [February 8, 2016, 4:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-all-you-people-texting-about-all-the-time/745268/60 "2016-02-08T16:24:06Z")
I’m at work and my husband just texted me a random I love you. Making plans with friends is easier with a group text, plus I can refer back to the text for information. I hate talking on the phone and all of my friends know that. So we text instead. OTOH, I don’t have long text conversations with people when I’m walking around, though. I’m not that coordinated. I also don’t text while driving, or in a way that would be a nuisance to those around me, like at the dinner table or something. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-all-you-people-texting-about-all-the-time/745268.md?page=2) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-all-you-people-texting-about-all-the-time/745268.md?page=4)