What are all you people texting about all the time ?!

[WOOKINPANUB]

@Lucky_Mike

Texting has brought my wife and I closer. I am very busy and have a 1.25 hour (each way) commute every day, standard business week. She has a job that works weekends.

I go to bed around 11 or 12, she stays up to 1 or 2 weekdays.

I get up at 6, out the door by 7. I work until about 4 or 5 and then drive home. On days when I teach (usually 2-4 days a week- two semesters a year) I go to the University until about 9 and I am home by 9:30. Eat dinner, kiss wife, play some EVE online or something, go to bed.

Weekends are better, but since museums are open on weekends, that is when she works. So I sleep in a little, get up, we see each other for an hour or so before she goes to the museum and then I do my thing until she comes home.

We did this life for 10 years. Mostly happy, but I always wanted to spend more time with her. She is after all, my best friend.

Then, just 3 years ago, we decided to get cell phones. Yes, besides my work phone, we did not have a cell phone. We were kinda like you, “why this craze. this is silly. look at those silly young people and their texting.” Nothing ever mean, just a “meh, we don’t need it”.

Now, instead of the 1-2 “check in” calls a day, we share tiny snippets of our day with each other. She sends me a pic when she sees something funny, or when she has a thought. I send her a frustration I am dealing with and she talks me down from the ledge.

This is done in 10-15 word texts, taking just seconds. Not pulling me out of my work in any way and not hurting productivity. I mean, as I walk from one meeting to the next, i am just looking down at my cell and sending a “lol” response to the pic my wife sent of our dog nuzzling a stuffed fish we bought him. Or, I am seeing her supportive statement of “don’t let them get you down, you know your better than that” in response to my quick text an hour ago saying “these people are driving me nuts, they want me to …”.

So, to answer your question. I am texting about my life and sharing it with my wife in tiny little snippets. I am calling her on the phone when I am driving and laughing at the texts she sent me earlier, or the meme photographs she or I send each other. “Hey honey, we got a call from that dude who wants us to sponsor his (insert crazy political position) again”. Response “(Picture of grumpy cat with “NO”)”. A quick LOL and a simple warm interaction with the woman I love.

Let it go dude, humans communicating is fun, and caring, and enriching and loving. If they do it while they should be working, driving, or other things? well then you got a beef.

Carrying a child? Maybe, I don’t know, would have to know the whole context. Did you ever answer the house phone (land line) carrying a child, or place dishes on the table or some other task? I know I did. I would have to know the full context to be concerned.

But, to answer your fundamental question of why people text… Maybe it is because they have people they love and they just want to spend every tiny second they have, in between the chaos of their busy lives, with them.

Crazy stuff, I know.

Not crazy stuff, by any means, but so utterly opposite of my personality I really don’t get it.I think the biggest reason why I’ve been so slow to get into the cell phone / texting thing is that I totally don’t relate to the desire for constant communication. You want me to pick up something at the store, tell me before I leave. I don’t answer my phone in stores. I also have seen so much bad behavior (and I do consider the situation described by the OP bad behavior; obviously I’m in the minority) that it kind of poisoned me against all texters and I know that’s not fair and I’m trying to adjust my outlook but some people out there make it difficult.

Anyway, I have often wondered what people are constantly texting about (I even wrote a paper about it in school) and I appreciate everyones’ answers here even though they don’t compute for me.

[Macca26]

My texts are literally normal conversations. Last night I sent photos of a sculpture I was making to a friend and we talked about it. Other conversations cover normal everyday topics: gripes about moving to another state, glee at paying off debt, complaints about customers, book passages one of us found interesting, jokes, comparison of free slurpee day vs free water ice day, games we’re playing, links to videos we made or like, art, movies we’re excited about, the merits of Deep Space 9 versus the normal Star Trek formula, etc. Just everything you would normally talk to people about. The farther away a person lives from me, the more likely I am to carry on a conversation while texting because there’s no way to know if they have a free moment or not. Not only are telephone calls draining but both of us need to (mostly) stop what we’re doing in order to have them. I still do phone calls maybe once a week but in the meantime it’s texting. For reference, usually the conversations span over a few hours or in small bursts as we both find 5 minutes at the same time.

As Lucky Mike laid out, it’s really just a way to share your life with the people you like. And since, y’know, you both like each other, you both enjoy the conversation and the news about their life. It’s not “ugh they’re texting about how they missed the train and it sucks, HOW SELF-CENTERED, why would they tell me this” the way non-texters seem to think they would react to being texted about stuff from their friends’ lives.

[RivkahChaya]

“Dr says baby has 5th disease. J had 5th disease yrs ago, can go 2 school.”

Sent 10 minutes before J’s bus arrives.

FWIW, Fifth disease is not serious, but can look worrisome, especially if a baby who has not had measles and rubella vaccines gets it. My son had it when he was 5 months old. He had just started eating a few foods, and I was worried he was having an allergic reaction.

[chappachula]

@RivkahChaya

“Dr by has 5th disease. J had 5th disease yrs ago, can go 2 school.”
Sent 10 minutes before J’s bus arrives.

Excuse me, but this looks like a pretty important issue for that day. Your kid needs permission to go to school, the bus is on the way, you need immedidate answers, etc.
So–may I ask–Why send a TEXT? Why not use your phone to -gasp-make a phone call?

You not only need to notify the spouse, you need feedback.( to verify that you both know what’s going on, whether the kid still has time to catch the bus, who will care for the sick baby the rest of the day, etc. )
Why is typing a text preferable to actually, ya know, talking?

[Macca26]

@chappachula

Excuse me, but this looks like a pretty important issue for that day. Your kid needs permission to go to school, the bus is on the way, you need immedidate answers, etc.
So–may I ask–Why send a TEXT? Why not use your phone to -gasp-make a phone call?

You not only need to notify the spouse, you need feedback.( to verify that you both know what’s going on, whether the kid still has time to catch the bus, who will care for the sick baby the rest of the day, etc. )
Why is typing a text preferable to actually, ya know, talking?

You wouldn’t know if the texts immediately prior to that one is,
“Doctor’s office says they’ll have results in 10 minutes”
“OK text me as soon as you know”

And the reason why you might want to text instead is…well, it’s just one piece of information, they were already expecting it, and now they don’t have to stop and drop what they’re doing exactly at the moment they’re called. They can finish pouring their coffee and putting in the creamer and THEN go over to the phone and say “ah, yup, kiddo you’re still going to school just like we thought!” So in the converse, I don’t see why a phone conversation is necessary. Verification can be as easy as one text back, though personally I’d just assume the SO knows how to handle getting the kid to school, missed bus or not.

[Really_Not_All_That_Bright]

I usually don’t text while walking, but just for fun, here is the most recent text from each of the 5 people who texted me most recently:

“No” - from my boss about whether something happened on a case.
“Your order is ready” - from CVS Pharmacy
“That is fine” - from a friend whose Superbowl party I didn’t go to because I was sick
“You weren’t that drunk” - from a friend I saw on Saturday
“Mexican pizza combo” - from my wife.

[gigi]

@WOOKINPANUB

Not crazy stuff, by any means, but so utterly opposite of my personality I really don’t get it.I think the biggest reason why I’ve been so slow to get into the cell phone / texting thing is that I totally don’t relate to the desire for constant communication. You want me to pick up something at the store, tell me before I leave.

I’m with you. I’m leaving for the day, you’ll see me when I get back. In between then, assume things are fine unless I contact you with a true emergency.

[ISiddiqui]

Last night I was at a Superbowl party. My girlfriend, who had just come back from a women’s retreat over the weekend, and I were texting (well, Facebook Messenger, but close enough) just random chatting stuff - “How’s the game”, “What are you up to” - that sort of stuff, mostly because she’d be going to sleep before I’d be home and be able to call her and chat about that stuff. That way we were able to exchange a bit of conversation while I was able to enjoy the game.

So you know, just random chatting stuff, esp in times where a phone call would be a bit more annoying.

[Hooleehootoo]

@Bear_Nenno

If her other hand was free doing something else, or carrying another grocery bag, you would not even have noticed…

1 hand on baby + 1 hand on bag = 2 hands. 1 hand on baby + 1 hand typing on phone + 1 hand holding phone = 3 hands, or the phone is stuck to the baby’s head.

No, it wasn’t either of those. One hand holding phone, one hand pressing buttons, some friction from an arm pressing baby against body.

[Hooleehootoo]

@ISiddiqui

Last night I was at a Superbowl party. My girlfriend, who had just come back from a women’s retreat over the weekend, and I were texting (well, Facebook Messenger, but close enough) just random chatting stuff - “How’s the game”, “What are you up to” - that sort of stuff, mostly because she’d be going to sleep before I’d be home and be able to call her and chat about that stuff. That way we were able to exchange a bit of conversation while I was able to enjoy the game.

So you know, just random chatting stuff, esp in times where a phone call would be a bit more annoying.

I understand people like to talk to their girlfriends. I understand that people like football. What I don’t understand is why people think they will suffer no diminution of their enjoyment by switching back and forth between these activities with sub-second frequency.

If there is no drop off, why don’t you do more than 2? Could you study, and stream the Super Bowl and mow the lawn and text your girlfriend all at the same time?

[Telemark]

@Hooleehootoo

What I don’t understand is why people think they will suffer no diminution of their enjoyment by switching back and forth between these activities with sub-second frequency.

Because, in total, our enjoyment is greater by doing both. You may not experience that, but others do.

[Really_Not_All_That_Bright]

@Hooleehootoo

1 hand on baby + 1 hand on bag = 2 hands. 1 hand on baby + 1 hand typing on phone + 1 hand holding phone = 3 hands, or the phone is stuck to the baby’s head.

Bah. Babies are pretty durable. They bounce if you drop them. Isn’t your generation always complaining about how we overprotect children nowadays?

[BeeGee]

@Suburban_Plankton

If I’m texting while walking through a grocery store parking lot, it’s probably something along the lines of “are we out of milk?”.

More likely, I’m not actually texting, but pulling up the grocery list that I keep on my phone, where it’s much less likely that I’ll forget to bring it with me to the store.

And this old fart is accessing the grocery store app where I’ve entered my list and it’s divided my shopping by aisles.

And since I am single and live alone with my cats, texting, email, and facebook allow me to keep in touch with my friends with a quick line or two. Finding Greek yogurt twinkies made me smirk, so I took a photo and sent it along to a couple of people. It wasn’t worth a phone call or a letter, but just a quick photo said it all. That’s stuff I wouldn’t share at all before all this new fangled technology.

If you really want your head to explode, try imagining 25-40 people all across the US watching Hoarders on A&E and snarking about it on facebook.

[snfaulkner]

@JohnT

That’s Twitter, not texting.

A text message is 144 char. Yes, you can go over, but it will count as a second text message. Therefore, 144 char chunks of utter tedious BS.
And to those of you who think calling would be easier, I say go work a few years in telephone tech support. I never ever ever want to talk on a phone again, ever. ever.

Ever.

[Seanette]

I have a shopping list app, too. Who doesn’t these days?

Most recent text conversation with my husband revolved around which job he was going to be working at tomorrow, since I was at one of them today and could have notified his supervisor if he’d gotten the info to me in time (he didn’t, so will have to send email on his own). I also tend to let him know when my classes let out, since I have late evening classes and think he should be aware of when I expect to be home so he’ll know if he needs to be concerned.

Other recent text activity included letting someone at church know I wasn’t going to be there yesterday, so she could plan coverage in the nursery around my absence, and receiving texts from various business contacts (Comcast, apartment complex, etc.).

For a working student with a fair amount of commute time and quite a bit of time each day when I’m not available for phone calls, texting or email are VERY important to keeping my life under some degree of control.

[Eyebrows_0f_Doom]

@snfaulkner

A text message is 144 char. Yes, you can go over, but it will count as a second text message. Therefore, 144 char chunks of utter tedious BS.

I have an iPhone and have never had any kind of character limit.

[snfaulkner]

@Eyebrows_0f_Doom

I have an iPhone and have never had any kind of character limit.

Again, it is not a “limit” per se. Anything over 144 will roll into another message. So if you write a giant screed, it will be broken into and transmitted, and billed, as multiple texts.

[JohnT]

Hmmm… On my phone, long texts show as one text. Have no idea how it’s billed as we have unlimited texting/data/phone on our plan

[snfaulkner]

I amend my previous statements to read 160 char, not 144.
sms

[Eyebrows_0f_Doom]

@snfaulkner

Again, it is not a “limit” per se. Anything over 144 will roll into another message. So if you write a giant screed, it will be broken into and transmitted, and billed, as multiple texts.

Maybe if you don’t have a smartphone. Again, texts on iPhones are not broken into multiple texts. They appear as however long they were written. I routinely write and receive texts longer than 160 characters and they are in one message.
(And “giant screed”? The above reply itself is 236 characters.)