LOL's, BRB's, and sideway smileys have become the language we use daily, and although I am a full supporter of the occasional ROFL, I still see the good side of scrolling through my contacts, hitting that green phone button, and waiting a few rings for the person on the other end to pick up and say hello - for real.
I know why we text - it's a quick, simple way for us to work out our thumbs and get a message across without really having anything to say. Texting is an asocial persons best friend. Texting has its ups, but when you think about it, what's really being conveyed in a text?
I had a friendship that ended over the miscommunication of a text, and I've known others who have put themselves in binds where they could have taken five minutes to settle the confrontation, but wasted 45 minutes waiting to send their written SMS. Along the same lines, blooming relationships are complicated today because they're all about the texting - but how does one really learn anything about someone through typed words.
I got to thinking, what does one do when texts are taken out of text?
It's hard to convey to someone how you're feeling or what your thinking through a screen. Communication is extremely important whether it be vocal, physical, or any other kind one chooses to pursue. So why is it that we try and make it harder then what it already is?
Talking causes the person to express how they feel on the spot - none of this waiting around thing or trying to fit what you need to say in 160 characters (plus spaces). It makes what you have to say meaningful and memorable - that you took enough initiative to actually use vocal abilities. Not to mention that majority of the time, in the cases where we text, it would be much easier and faster just to call.
Also in my years of relationship experience and blunders, I've noticed that texting is BAD (yes, BAD) for a relationship, or those attempting to be in a relationship. Trust me, I've been through it and am currently going through it. No pity, thanks.
The ability to text gives the keeper of the cell the ability to think about what they're going to say - a witty and clever response otherwise not thought of if you were to talk in real time. A relationship texter knows that if the other person gets upset, confused, or fed up, they just don't respond - giving lines like "I didn't get it" or "My inbox was full." Full? Majority of phones made after 2002 have a feature that deletes text messages that are saved in your inbox after so many days. Please, I know my shit. Also, as said before, texts are mysterious and hard to interpret. A modern day Da Vinci Code.
Ladies. Gentlemen. Let me tell you something. Texting, in all of its glory, has been a wonderful invention for us. Checking the weather, chatting during class, getting jokes. All of these things are great and add a little bit of joy to our sometimes hectic and shall I say depressing lives. However, the subtext of my textual talk is this: if something is so important that it can't wait, the persons just a scroll-click away. Remember that the next time your life is in shambles.
KLR
