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Jan 7, 2009 
Ok, I’ll admit I’m not a young hip teenager sporting the latest electronic gadget. However, I think my use of technology is somewhat above average as I do have the iPod classic and my wife created me a Facebook account. Hey….I even can blog without the Blogging for Dummies book. Our family has the unlimited text messaging plan for $30 per month. My wife insists it is critical for communicating with a 16 and 13 yr old. My definition of communication is that some information is passed from one person to another.
This is an example of a text message conversation. I’ll translate in the ( )
Me to the 16 yr old: Watcha doing (me using slang)
16 yr old to me: nm u (not much. What are you doing?)
Me to the 16 yr old: watchin tv
…………………….. (time passes with me expecting some sort of response)
Me to the 16 yr old: ne big plans this weekend (ne = any…)
16 yr old to me: n u (no. Do you have any?)
That useless conversation took 5 minutes of my life. If I were talking on the phone, it would have taken 10 seconds. At this point, my opinion of text messaging is that it is on the verge of electronic grunting. Just worthless noises between two organisms!!!! Of course, another possibility is that my stepson doesn’t want to talk with me…..and I’m open to that possibility.
So, is there an actual use for text messaging besides the former mayor of Detroit sending steamy text messages to his administrative staff? I have found that when I’m on a conference call at work and my wife calls my cell phone, I can quickly send a message back saying “On a call”. I also can send a text message to my cell phone company (AT&T) and they will tell me how many anytime minutes I have left in a month. Those two applications seem minimally useful. I found one other useful application and that is the NFL using text messaging for people to quietly report unruly fans to security. They call it the “rat line”.
I found an article where some teachers are starting to see teenager’s writing regress due to text messaging slang called Does text messaging hurt us in the long run? Instead of writing “you”, kids will put “u” and use other shorthand. I’ve also heard that text messaging is even more prevalent in other countries and has eclipsed talking as the primary form of communication.
My prediction is that scary times are ahead…..at least for us old folk.
C ya l8ter 2nite k
