# What is texting good for? **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [August 27, 2009, 6:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-texting-good-for/507934 "2009-08-27T18:13:59Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 14\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![suranyi](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/e36b37/32.png) [@suranyi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/suranyi)\ **Post date:** [August 28, 2009, 3:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-texting-good-for/507934/41 "2009-08-28T15:50:15Z")
I can definitely see the advantage of texting, but I still don’t do it, simply because my fingers aren’t dextrous enough to work the buttons on the phone fast enough. ---
**Author:** ![sandra\_nz](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/eada6e/32.png) [@sandra\_nz](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/sandra_nz)\ **Post date:** [August 28, 2009, 4:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-texting-good-for/507934/42 "2009-08-28T16:30:19Z")
I’m a Pay as You Go user and texting is cheaper than making calls. Texts I send are usually reminders, (don’t forget the milk on the way home), or I’m letting someone know where I’m at (leaving work now), that kind of thing. ---
**Author:** ![NinjaChick](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/71c47a/32.png) [@NinjaChick](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/NinjaChick)\ **Post date:** [August 28, 2009, 4:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-texting-good-for/507934/43 "2009-08-28T16:31:15Z")
> [@Alessan](#): > > It’s also a way to nag without being \*too \*annoying. I don’t know how many times I’ve sent an “Everything OK?” to someone running late. The sent messages folder on my phone is full of things like, “we’re @ big booth in back when u get here” and “movie starts @ 10 not 10:30 right?” - a gentle means of asking where the hell someone is. It has the added bonus of not being as distracting as a call if someone’s in their car en route; a text will happily wait until that long red light. ---
**Author:** ![Rhythmdvl](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/85f322/32.png) [@Rhythmdvl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rhythmdvl)\ **Post date:** [August 28, 2009, 4:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-texting-good-for/507934/44 "2009-08-28T16:44:10Z")
Absolutely nothing! Say it again y’all… ---
**Author:** ![Mangetout](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mangetout/32/19_2.png) [@Mangetout](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mangetout)\ **Post date:** [August 28, 2009, 4:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-texting-good-for/507934/45 "2009-08-28T16:45:15Z")
For imparting information when the recipient needs the detail, but may not be in a position to write it down (i.e. “Here’s Jim’s phone number” or “Jill’s address: 23a Somewhere road - it’s the one with the red door”) For communicating when the message is brief, relatively non-urgent and or it is not appropriate to interrupt the recipient. For those times when you need to say something, but don’t want to be drawn into a spoken conversation. I concede, however, that the majority of text messages _actually sent_ may not fall into any of these categories and may instead be trivial teenage girl fluff with no real content. ---
**Author:** ![Uncommon\_Sense](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/f9ae1b/32.png) [@Uncommon\_Sense](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Uncommon_Sense)\ **Post date:** [August 28, 2009, 5:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-texting-good-for/507934/46 "2009-08-28T17:11:30Z")
> [@Mangetout](#): > > For imparting information when the recipient needs the detail, but may not be in a position to write it down (i.e. “Here’s Jim’s phone number” or “Jill’s address: 23a Somewhere road - it’s the one with the red door”) > > For communicating when the message is brief, relatively non-urgent and or it is not appropriate to interrupt the recipient. > > For those times when you need to say something, but don’t want to be drawn into a spoken conversation. Right. Like if you’re shopping with your wife and you need to tell your girlfriend that you’ll be late. Just shoot a quick text. If your wife asks what you’re doing you tell her that you just caught a straight-flush on the river while playing the poker game that came installed on the phone. Act surprised, how often do you see a straight flush? Or, if you want to get the last word in an argument, you can text your SO and then turn off your phone. They love it! See, texting has many uses. I kid, I kid! ---
**Author:** ![Cisco](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/ccd318/32.png) [@Cisco](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cisco)\ **Post date:** [August 28, 2009, 5:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-texting-good-for/507934/47 "2009-08-28T17:32:08Z")
> [@EvilTOJ](#): > > In my school the ‘reasoning’ behind the ban on pagers was that \*\*only \*\*pimps and drug dealers carried them. :rolleyes: At my school they said only doctors and drug dealers use pagers, and none of you are doctors. ---
**Author:** ![cruel\_butterfly](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/5daacb/32.png) [@cruel\_butterfly](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/cruel_butterfly)\ **Post date:** [August 28, 2009, 5:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-texting-good-for/507934/48 "2009-08-28T17:53:24Z")
> [@Duckster](#): > > **What is texting good for?** > > Excessive revenue for telecommunications companies. I don’t know about that. My unlimited text plan is only $5 a month extra. Without unlimited, I’d run over $5 worth in one day (incoming messages are free while outgoing messages cost ten cents a piece). Now, I can send 1500 messages a month if I like and still only pay $5. ---
**Author:** ![Harriet\_the\_Spry](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/e56c9b/32.png) [@Harriet\_the\_Spry](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Harriet_the_Spry)\ **Post date:** [August 28, 2009, 7:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-texting-good-for/507934/49 "2009-08-28T19:38:08Z")
> [@Colophon](#): > > Anyway, IMO at least, texts have pretty much replaced email, not phone calls. I rarely email friends any more - I tend to text instead. It’s quicker, and I know they’ll get the message there and then, rather than next time they check their mail. It seems like this might swing the other way now that mobile email is becoming more accessible, though. The only time I really like to get a text is when my husband is traveling, to let me know his plane landed OK. I don’t usually want my phone ringing, because I may be in a meeting or driving. But now that he has a Blackberry and I have an iPhone, we just email. ---
**Author:** ![trupa](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/aeb1de/32.png) [@trupa](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/trupa)\ **Post date:** [August 28, 2009, 7:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-texting-good-for/507934/50 "2009-08-28T19:52:43Z")
Now if you text iphone to iphone, you can send a google map with address indicated! Talk about saying we’re HERE. Also, picture messaging can be handy: Is THIS the part you need? ---
**Author:** ![lolagranola](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/ea5d25/32.png) [@lolagranola](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/lolagranola)\ **Post date:** [August 29, 2009, 9:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-texting-good-for/507934/51 "2009-08-29T21:21:25Z")
I love it! First of all, I hate talking on the phone. My previous mantra was that if it can’t be said by e-mail or in person, it can’t be said at all. Then texting came along. Sweet, sweet texting. If it wasn’t for texting, I would probably never talk to my 19 year old (who doesn’t live with me anymore) or my 16 year old (who is living with his father for the duration of high school). I don’t know their work schedules, when they’re doing what - but I can always text and they text back when they have the time. I check my phone on my work breaks, they check theirs on their work/school breaks. My husband is pretty much the same thing - we text at work when we have breaks, or a minute here or there. I figure it’s better than my ex-coworker who would spend all day on the phone with her husband. ---
**Author:** ![drachillix](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/48db29/32.png) [@drachillix](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/drachillix)\ **Post date:** [August 29, 2009, 9:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-texting-good-for/507934/52 "2009-08-29T21:52:21Z")
In my business I LOVE text messages. Mostly because I can usually get 90% of the info I need to or from someone without a phone conversation. When working onsite at a customers business, many of the office areas I am working in are very quiet, a phone call is going to be loud and clear to everyone in the room, some customers also get a little bent out of shape about techs taking phone calls, especially if they are personal while “on the clock” for their job. If its relevant to the job fine… ---
**Author:** ![JRDelirious](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jrdelirious/32/9531_2.png) [@JRDelirious](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JRDelirious)\ **Post date:** [August 29, 2009, 10:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-texting-good-for/507934/53 "2009-08-29T22:16:55Z")
My sole problem with texting use for myself is when people with smartphones forget I still have just a simple 12-key cell phone(\*) and they actually ask a question requiring answering in complex sentences. And then they do NOT answer a voice call. (\*I refuse to empower people to expect me to open a spreadsheet at 1 am in a men’s room halfway across the continent.) ---
**Author:** ![vandal](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/v/858c86/32.png) [@vandal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/vandal)\ **Post date:** [August 30, 2009, 5:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-texting-good-for/507934/54 "2009-08-30T17:54:15Z")
So, **the first supraliminal** , what do you think so far? Still for shy school kids, or do you see some validity now? [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-texting-good-for/507934.md?page=2)