Thou Shalt Not txt

Remember the good old days when people didn't have cell phones? Back then, if you were trying to avoid talking to a person, but still wanted to appear gentleman-y and as someone who calls ("oh, i called, now the ball is in your court"), you would call them during the hours when they wouldn't be at home and leave some lame message on their answering machine. Those were the days!!!

Then came pagers and cell phones and people became chained. No longer do they have an excuse of calling during unreachable hours and leaving a message. So what do you do instead? Apparently, the answer is text! You practice your mad typing skills, while punching in some non-discrete and grammatically incorrect message, just to send it out there into the universe. Why have a conversation, right? Who has the time?

"What is the problem with texting?" you might ask. "It depends!" is the answer. Surely, text messaging is great when you want to let someone know that you are running 5 minutes late, or need an address, or maybe just want to say good morning.

But in general, text messages are impersonal. They shouldn't be your main mode of communication. And frankly, text messages send the wrong message.

Here are a few favorites from my personal phone:

"Cold as ice, or better yet heartless" - quite poetic,
"I think I love you, correction, I know I do" - sent after midnight, the only message this text message is saying "I had too much too drink"

So the next time you're reaching for your phone, try something new or forgotten. Dial the person's phone number. Hear their voice. Make them giggle and smile.