I spoke to Brett last night. He was telling me about his life and I was hanging on every word like a good mother should. I told him about a new phone company that was about to launch. After I explained all the perks, his only response was, “Does it include text?” I told him I didn’t know, but it would be incredibly cheap with unlimited minutes.
He told me that his generation, and the one below it, just doesn’t talk much on the phone anymore. He could actually live without a phone I was told, or at least the ability to speak on it. Text is the thing. Now I knew this to some degree. However, I had severely underestimated just how popular texting is. When I switched carriers 18 months ago, I put the three of us on one plan in an attempt to save money.
When the first bill arrived, I damn near fell over. Brett had almost 4K text messages! That was more than I could wrap my brain around. Not to mention that we didn’t have unlimited text. (Thank goodness I was able to get that bill lowered.) I know I’m texting more than I did two years ago since I upgraded and got a Sidekick with a QWERTY keyboard- 1 button, 1 letter. What a relief. All that push this button twice for this letter and three times for that one was making me crazy. I remember in the movie The Departed a guy was actually texting with his phone in the pocket. Brett didn’t even find that strange.
I do text now more than I did two years ago, especially to my kids. However, they text to someone they know is available to chat, not at work or in a movie where taking a call isn’t pc. I still don’t understand that. It seems like a lot of extra work to me. I always thought that having a conversation meant having an auditory experience. (Except for the deaf, of course.) However Wiki defines conversation as communication between multiple people. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Conversation. So I guess by that definition that smoke signals and jungle drums are conversations too. It’s fine by me. (It just still seems strange to text someone you’re sitting next to in the car.)
On the plus side, if our kids hit hard times, they can make big money out on the professional thumb wrestling circuit.
I don’t like it, but I do it when I have to.
I think it’s OK in a movie or a library. However, I think that it’s rude if you’re having a meal with someone and they sit there texting.
I prefer someone doing that on public transportation instead of having to listen to their conversation. I was stuck next to a woman who gave a second by second rundown of her gynocological problems to her friend over the phone- GROSS!
smoke signals+wind=lost call
Call me old-fashioned, but I still prefer to speak to someone on the phone.
Texting is too impersonal for me. I refuse to do it.
I text, but only when alone.
When I first got a phone with texting, I got a “Hi, Mom!” from Nathan. As I’m trying to figure out how to text, he calls and laughs saying to Mandy that he knew I wouldn’t know what to do. I promptly told him I was just a little slow, but I would have figured it out eventually. Young whippersnapper!
That sounds like him.
ROFL! LOL…=P
Hey txtr. Are you laughing at the blog, me or both?
Don’t text, too busy saving every extra penny so we can spend a month in FL every winter and 3 weeks bass fishing in MN every August. (That information was for people like txtr.) (Damn young whippersnappers!)
However, I absolutely HATE talking on the phone. Period. I like socializing with people just fine and having face-to-face conversation, but if I could banish phone calls from my life entirely, I’d do it.
I have a laptop. I have a keyboard. I can send e-mails and leave pm’s on facebook. I can’t for the life of me understand why I should ever again have to talk to anybody on the phone except my Mom.
Signed, Old Whippersnapper
Wow I feel so special since I’ve actually spoken to you phone-to-phone.