Texting

[Robert****]

How much time do spend texting? How many messages per day?

Is it a right to be able to send text messages from anywhere? From work?

I send maybe 2-3 a day at the most. Probably less.

Our kids? Hundreds a day sometimes. I honestly don't understand the need. Probably means I'm TOO OLD!

They finally introduced a "distracted driving" law here in Alberta. Not sure how much it is enforced though. I still see many people driving around with their heads looking down most of the time... pretty easy to guess what they are doing.

[sunvalleylaw]

I am not a big texting fan. It annoys me really. Anything that requires more than delivering a quick message would be better done by voice communication. I guess it can be convenient for a quick message only.

Also, If I receive a text. I view it as an invitation to communicate when I get around to it, not an immediate obligation.


But then again, I am older than you!

I still see many people driving around with their heads looking down most of the time... pretty easy to guess what they are doing.

Checking in on the forum via tapatalk?!

[guitartango]

How much time do spend texting? How many messages per day?

Is it a right to be able to send text messages from anywhere? From work?

I send maybe 2-3 a day at the most. Probably less.

Our kids? Hundreds a day sometimes. I honestly don't understand the need. Probably means I'm TOO OLD!

They finally introduced a "distracted driving" law here in Alberta. Not sure how much it is enforced though. I still see many people driving around with their heads looking down most of the time... pretty easy to guess what they are doing.

Using a mobile phone in the UK whilst driving can occur a £60 fine and points. I don't understand the need to txt someone every few minutes, must be getting old myself.

[omegadot]

We've had the laws in new York forever. I text maybe 20 times a week myself. I'm 26 so I grew up Without the tech mostly so maybe I never got that habit.

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[Spudman***]

I do no texting. I do keep my eyes open for drivers that are doing it (that's crazy) so that I don't become a fatality. My thinking is that if you want to tell me something, call me. It worked in the past, plus I can tell from your tone of voice where you are really coming from. It's hard to do that with text. I also don't want to pay extra every month for the liberty of having that option on a phone that I hardly use.

[mapka]

nothing more annoying and dangerous then being behind someone going 10 mph or on and off the brakes constantly and when you get a chance to pass them to get out of dangers way you see them with a phone glued to their ear. I know that there have been studies done that show human interaction is changing (and not for the better) because of texting.

[riverrick]

No cell phone.....no texting!!! My wife on the other hand, the minute we get in the car to go somewhere she's on that damn cell phone thumbs going 100 mph. I HATE IT!!! I think there's way too much technology these days. I'm just sayin'.

[Tig***]

I am not a big texting fan. It annoys me really. Anything that requires more than delivering a quick message would be better done by voice communication. I guess it can be convenient for a quick message only.

^ This makes sense.

We have no texting plan on our phones. I only have a basic phone used to talk with my wife or be available for emergencies.

Texting for kids and young adults is more a fad than anything. Typed messages, especially abbreviated ones, lose meaning since they are so simple, leaving room for misunderstandings and communication failure. What a waste to take such advanced technology and use it as an ancient teletype system.

[Katastrophe]

^ Tig makes sense, too.

The only time I text is when I'm in a place where I have to be quiet and can't talk on the phone. I send maybe 4 or 5 texts per week. I'm not a big fan.

I'd much rather talk. Back when Nextel was around, we had the Direct Connect program, and that was really nice to have.

[deeaa*]

Uuh, I dunno...I hardly ever text. When I do it's usually something like 'picked up kids?' to my wife, or something like that, often just 'k' for okay. I may go weeks without a single sms message either direction.

I do however read & reply my email quite a lot on my phone.

I hate talking on the phone as well, it's very hard for me to concentrate on talking on the telephone unless I do something else simultaneously. If I have nothing to do while I'm on the phone my mind wanders, and suddenly I realize I'm gazing out the window and haven't listened to the other person on the line for the last 20 seconds already. For that reason, when a phone rings I automatically start doing something else, usually walk around the house quite fast, it helps me to concentrate on the audio only input. I like to talk on the phone when I'm driving for the same reason. If I don't talk with someone while I'm driving, it's very hard to keep alert to things on the road, so when I'm driving alone I always talk on the phone a little, sing to music, practice scales, anything, so my mind doesn't wander.

This inability to sustain attention to anything arriving via a single media or sensory channel was always very hard for me at school & university. I can listen to a lecture for 15 minutes and then it's just pfft, I end up in a dreamworld completely.

I just simply need both auditory and visual input, not just one, or do something kinetic simultaneously. It simply makes me concentrate better on both tasks to do them simultaneously, although it may sound strange.

It's often driven my wife crazy...you know, it is especially important I divide my attention when I'm thinking of something very important. So when my wife comes to me obviously shaken, saying like 'I lost my job today' the first thing I do is jump up and start organizing dishes into the cabinet, or anything at hand, because if I don't do something, I just stare blankly and my mind is going like 'oh shit oh shit' and I get nothing said or done. But soon as I start doing something I can again think straight and process the information and start talking. But to anyone who doesn't know me, of course, it usually looks like I don't give a shit or got mad, or whatever, but NOT the response they wanted anyway. But it's indeed the more anxious and the more worried I feel, the stronger the urge to do something. If it's like some mundane thing like 'buhaa, I broke a nail' I'll just hug her and say 'aww, too bad...' or whatever...but when the issue is more important, I just MUST burst into action.

I'm pretty sure that if I took a long driving test twice, once just driving, and once also chatting with someone on the phone, I'd do better when chatting.

[guitartango]

Dee,

Trouble with me is that I get bored with talking on the phone and start thinking about scales and chords, once i replied to someone and said E minor, the caller said Pardon E Minor ? I had to say sorry i was thinking of something other than car insurance,

[markb]

I'm such an inept texter that it's usually quicker just to call. I find it handy if I get a busy tone when calling though.

[Glacies]

Usually 2-3 a day for me, if that.

If I'm watching baseball against a friend's team and I'm in a spritely mood, I text about notable plays and bust chops.

[piebaldpython***]

I rarely text anyone but my wife and daughter. My girls text way more. As my 25 yr old daughter explains it...."texting is a necessary evil because it allows you to give/receive info without having to go through the superfluous beginning/ending parts of a conversation....which in this day and age means time IS money. Get to the point and get going". She uses it in work, for work and school. It also allows for communication where a phone call is not possible/advisable.

She admits that many her age are ridiculous about texting.

[Tig***]

The trend of declining human to human contact, even voice, has become alarming. Texting and Twitter are being used to break up with someone! Are we replacing basic responsibility with technology?

I understand in some situations it is more efficient to text, but when texting becomes the primary communication tool, our ability to work with and socialize with others is threatened. Ever watch a couple in a restaurant with kids, facebooking and texting on their phones, not talking, and ignoring the behavior of their kids?

[NWBasser]

The trend of declining human to human contact, even voice, has become alarming. Texting and Twitter are being used to break up with someone! Are we replacing basic responsibility with technology?

I understand in some situations it is more efficient to text, but when texting becomes the primary communication tool, our ability to work with and socialize with others is threatened. Ever watch a couple in a restaurant with kids, facebooking and texting on their phones, not talking, and ignoring the behavior of their kids?

That's it! I couldn't agree more.

It really pisses me off when I'm visiting with someone and all they do is spend the time texting someone else.

[sunvalleylaw]

+1. While I am sure PBP's daughter is doing her best in her world, the fact that text communication for even those tasks bothers me. It makes it to easy to just send a text and say that you have fulfilled your responsibility and that the ball is in the other guy's court now. Also, the niceties she says texting avoids are what help us to view each other as human beings with lives, and therefore treat each other with more respect. The niceties are actually important in my opinion.

PBP, please do not take the above as a criticism of your daughter. I am sure she is just doing what she feels or is told is expected of her. I am just criticizing the trend in human communication.

[Tig***]

PBP, please do not take the above as a criticism of your daughter. I am sure she is just doing what she feels or is told is expected of her. I am just criticizing the trend in human communication.

Me, too. PBP's daughter sounds like she has a good head on her shoulders.
My old man rant is focused on the social trend.

Now get off my lawn!

[piebaldpython***]

PBP, please do not take the above as a criticism of your daughter. I am sure she is just doing what she feels or is told is expected of her. I am just criticizing the trend in human communication.

SVL....no offense taken. How to explain why texting is superior in some instances. It allows for immediate feedback/communication without people around you having to hear your voice and conversation. So, if she's on public transportation.....or in a line at a store or shopping it allows for brief communication where a phone call would just be too intrusive/annoying to those around her. So, a courtesy to others, if you will.

I am not a big fan of texting.....but I much prefer that others around me text instead of me having to hear their drawn-out dumb-a** conversations at loud volumes. lol

Baby Cobra goes to the same college I did, Temple U in Philly. When I registered for classes, they had folding tables set up throughout the basketball gym (McGonigle Hall) with signs on the tables pertaining to what schools/majors and you went from table to table, stood in line to register for classes. By contrast, her registration starts at midnite.....online....and by 12:10 she's done. The comparison blows my mind.

Conclusion....texting isn't perfect by any means......but in most instances, I view it as the lesser of 2 evils...because the actual conversations I'm subjected to in public nauseates me. Can't tell you how many times I've wanted to tell people to "shut the ---up". UGH.