Tuesday, December 21, 2010

Talk to me

At the risk of sounding like I'm two hundred as well as a complete loser, I make the following proclamation:


I hate texting.


Okay, hate is maybe a strong word. In some (limited) situations, I think texting is very good. For example, if I'm at a crazy person's home I can't very well call up my cousin Becky and be all like, "Oh my sweet Lord Bex, you would not believe what this crazy snatch just said to me!" as said crazy snatch would actually hear me saying it and that wouldn't be good, right? But I can totally send her a text message which reads, "I'm going to cut a bitch!" and she completely understands where I'm going with it. Even without words. Becky and I, incidentally, have the kind of connection in which I could send her a text that read "!" and she would be all like, "Dude. I know" We're close like that and maybe that's why she's pretty much the only person I text, ever. And frankly, I text her almost never, even though I love her so bad and she's entirely too far away from me all the time. I just really hate texting.

I'm not good at texting, even though I can type like a mo-fo. The letters are too small or maybe my chubby little fingers are just too fat. It's cumbersome. It took me like two and half years to figure out how to make a space which means that any texts I sent during that learning period were even more ridiculous because they looked like one big smooshed up word. While Me+Grammar do not equal love forever or anything, I don't want to look like a big stupid head either. And I totally do.

I think mostly though, I really don't like that my family texts me. Information such as "Your brother got married" or "Grandma died this morning" should not come from text messages (I'm not kidding about either of those, incidentally). I know, I know. It's a time-crunched world and we are time-crunched people. Calling everyone would be a lot to do and well, what good is technology if you don't use it?

Sure.

But sometimes I get lonely here. Sometimes it's good to hear a person's voice, instead of reading words on a tiny screen. Sometimes...well, sometimes it would just be nice to know that someone is out there and that I matter enough to them that they want to hear my voice too. Not every time, maybe. But sometimes.

I don't know. I feel like a hypocrite with my not-even-hand-signed Christmas cards and my copious use of email. But still. Talking would be okay. Every now and then.

9 comments:

Leandra said...

Dang it. I LOVE texting, but now I'm going to have to do less of it because of you. Because I totally get what you're saying.

I hereby promise that I will never text you about anything important.

Kathy said...

I totally agree. Sometimes a phone call is more, is better, is appropriate.

I text my best friend and that is about it. She would also understand "!".

Living said...

my dad learned the powers of text and its humerous when he sends me one once in awhile...

val said...

I do think we're on the verge of some major technology shifts. People who used to share pretty frequent emails with me--now all I ever get are facebook updates, no more personal email conversations.

I don't mind facebook, but status updates are not the same as actual conversation.

And same with the phone. I don't miss the phone very often--really prefer email, but well...it's got me wondering maybe these people really don't crave my company at all. They certainly used to. Before Facebook.

The texting--I can't punctuate! Yes, I sound like a big stupid head, all small letters, no punctuation.

The culture is evolving. I can feel it. love, Val

diane rene said...

I get what you are saying.

I now have a "smartphone" thanks to hubby's insisting that we take our business emails with us wherever we go, but I DO NOT have texting.

I don't like it.

I have no issues with answering emails, because to me they can wait til I have time to read them. tex messages demand a sense of "read me now" urgency and I don't want to. if you need me now, call me up and ask me nicely.

plus, I feel that for a society that moans and groans over automated phone operators, why would we text?? I wanna hear your voice!

Lara said...

I despise seeing people text. I don't mind it personally but only because I don't have a texting plan so I text only when necessary.

I love the random messages occasionally that let me know someone is thinking of me.

I hate the worthless garbage that most texts are.

And I block texting for my kids entirely. I despise the rudeness that most kids exhibit by texting people all the time... in church, while on a date, while visiting grandparents... I refuse to raise a bunch of rude, thoughtless children.

CPA Mom said...

dude. I TRIED to talk to you on the phone. You didn't call me! p.s. xoxo

Mary said...

I'm slower than Christmas when it comes to texting. The boys will text me, and I'll have a couple of words typed in, and they'll text me AGAIN, making my text go into draft. Drives me crazy.

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