May 09 2008
Cell Phone Text Messaging
Text messaging as a form of communication is getting as embedded into our lifestyles as the cellphones they are sent with.
It seems we have come full circle with communication technology. Once upon a time, all we had to communicate with folks far away, was the the postal system or a telegraph using morse code. Then, along came the telephone. Wow, press a few buttons and you can actually speak to someone far away. Cool! Then, came the cellular phone. You don’t have to be connected to a wire attached to the walls of your house… you can talk to anyone, anywhere in the world, from anywhere in the world with this little gadget you can carry with you. Super cool!
But now, we are using those cell phones primarily to send cryptic text messages back and forth to people. At least that’s what the younger generation seems to use it for. My 16-year old son regularly accumulated enough text messages on his cell phone to drive the monthly bill up by 20, 30, and even 60 dollars. At 15 cents a message, that’s a lot of text messages that say nothing more than: “Wassup?”, “Nutn”, “me 2, wtf”, “ruok?”, “yup, wan2 gwan a d8 2moro”, “yes qt”, “gr8 cu l8r”
This amazing technology that allows us to speak with people anywhere is being used to text people anywhere anytime. Seems like a mismatch. It’s only a matter of time when a cellular provider offers a product that can be used only for texting.
My phone goes so far as to anticipate what the rest of your sentence might be. This morning, I tried to type “Enjoy your day” to a colleague who was taking a well-deserved day off. After I had “enjoy” typed, it inserted “toronto”. I ignored that and continued typing “your” and it inserted “mom”. Both suggestions were wrong and to be honest, made me feel a little creepy. Brrr…
While convenient at times, I despise the things. I guess I feel that way mostly because of how accessible they make you when you may not want to be. I’ve resisted carrying them since the nightmares started in the Blackberry days of my previous job.
What do y’all think? Could you live without your cell phone? Would you miss it if it fell into a toilet and got ruined? (Hmmm, that’s an idea!)
(This post was created using the web-browsing features on my Samsung M500 cell phone… NOT!)
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May 9th, 2008 at 2:03 pm
i have no use or desire to carry a cellphone with me unless i’m going out into the wilds with a potential to get lost or die. Even then, the phone would take away from the adventure of it all!
May 9th, 2008 at 3:24 pm
I have one, and use it only to keep in contact with my husband. I have never had more than a 6o second conversation on it. If I lost it, I could care less. I hate the social morons who talk them all the time.
May 9th, 2008 at 3:48 pm
Mine went through a washer and dryer cycle recently, so I had about two weeks without one. It was a little inconvenient. I could no longer check a bus time at a whim, or easily contact police after some dangerous motorist tried to take my life away. It forced me to learn the bus schedule if I needed to take a bus, and try to remember license plates for longer than 30 seconds.
I have a new phone now: Halifax motorists, look out!
May 9th, 2008 at 4:36 pm
I mowed over my Blackberry about two weeks after I got it. I was mowing my backyard and noticed it missing from the holster. I looked around the yard and it was sitting, embedded into the ground in a section I had mowed. The blades just tapped it (hard) into the ground instead of shredding it.
A couple of scratches, but it worked. I always regretted not putting it back under the blades…
May 10th, 2008 at 9:09 am
I would be lost without my cell phone…It keeps me in contact with Tony being a truck driver on the road all the it is nice to be able to call him when ever I want not just him calling when ever he is at a land line….Dad always asks me where is Tony and I can always say
“he is at the other end of the phone”…..
May 12th, 2008 at 11:58 am
Well Uncle Steve, I HATE having conversations on the phone. I don’t feel that I need to know every detail of someone’s day, so when I text it is so I wont have to be held up for 30 minutes having a useless conversation. Texting gets right to the point, and then you’re done. So no, I would not be able to live without my cell phone and text messages.
And here’s a little idea that will take care of your son’s texting addiction…purchase an unlimited text messaging package, it costs an extra $10 a month. Therefore you’ll be saving money in the end, and the kid can text away. Everyone’s happy!!!
May 12th, 2008 at 2:07 pm
That’s what we did. Except he’s paying the extra $10. I still have a little problem with the unlimited text though… I don’t want it to distract from what he should be focusing on when he’s at school or at work.
Oh… and I think you could live without your cell phone. Many generations before you managed to squeak by without one!