Texting is Here to Stay... Whether You Like It or Not!

As I scold my two teenagers for texting at the dinner table,
I am secretly harboring anxious, worrisome thoughts about my own cell phone. It
sits on the counter, initially vibrating thrice before the alert phases into a
persistent, flashing red light. It is teasing me mercilessly with information
that I cannot know unless I jump over my chicken Caesar salad and pounce. What
is it about the message light that gets me so riled up? There must be something
animalistic - primordial even - in me because I seriously detest the concept of
texting. Or so I tell myself.


Try as I might to resist the urge to fore go any truncated conversation
using only my thumbs, I cannot. Too many people are texting other people who
are texting other people hundreds of times every day. It is almost impossible
to slow let alone stop this moving train unless the special effects director
says so. So, alas, I feel I must give in or rather chalk it up to progress and
enjoy the ride!

So, I ask myself what is it about texting that bugs me so? I
think first it is because texts are like secrets shared in front of others. I
find myself asking my kids, "who are you talking to?" I am sure I know, but I
feel the need to ask nonetheless. Their answers?

"Brett [daughter's boyfriend]" or "Mitch [son's best friend]."

Ah. Now that I know, what do I do with that information?
Nothing! What CAN I do with it? They are communicating with each other with no
sense of including me in their teenage musings (not that they would regardless
of mode of communication). Are not they essentially whispering in each others
ear, telling secrets? In a sense, they are. But if I desperately feel the need
to know, I ask. They are invariably discussing the upcoming statistics test or
the science fair. Whew! That was close!

Texting also takes away the beauty of the written word and
bastardizes all things grammatically good. It is an affront to the spelling bee
where you either spell stromuhr
correctly or go home empty handed. It is an insult to professional writers
where strict rules must be adhered to in order for works to be published. LOL.
IKR. :)

Not surprisingly, texting greatly affects our social skills.
Much of our communication is through sights, sounds, facial expressions, tones,
etc. Texting nullifies all of that. Will this permanently affect texters'
abilities to communicate effectively in other situations? My guess is that it
already has.

However, texting is here to stay. I am sure that eventually,
the next step in human evolution will incorporate elongated, more aerodynamic
thumbs and weakened vocal cords. As long as there are texting contests from the Kansas
State Fair prize of $1,000 to the LG
Mobile Phone national texting grand prize of $100,000, people will text.
After all, we are human and the quick fix (though it never really is just that)
is our specialty... that and the fact that we crave instant gratification which
texting wholly provides.

I suspect that, in the future, individuals in power will not
have succumbed to the texting phenomenon, will have retained short stubby thumbs
and developed booming operatic voices. They may even have professional "texters"
who text for them should the need arise. Who am I to say, though, that this may
already be a reality for some individuals. Not this individual, I am happy to
say. I will text on my own, thank you very much.

What is it about texting that draws us nigh and holds us to
its bosom? Something exciting and instant about the whole thing, I suspect. We
all know not to text and drive. I could list out a whole host of etiquette pointers
from any of a number of blogs about when not to text. That is not my purpose
here. I am just musing, I guess, at what will happen with the texting revolution.
Will anyone just send me a handwritten card in the mail other than on my
birthday? Wait, I only get birthday wishes on Facebook now. Geez. Yet another
reason the US Post Office is downsizing... but that's another blog.