Truth time. I love my text app. LOVE it. Texting may be the single greatest thing to happen in my lifetime – okay, maybe next to the smart phone. And e-mail. I sure do love my e-mail. But for the purposes of this post, let’s just say texting rocks. It’s our generation’s sliced bread.
This particular adoration may have something to do with my aversion to phone calls. I was never the girl who spent hours talking with her friends, but somewhere between fifteen and twenty-five years old I developed an active distaste for the phone. It became stressful, even draining, for me. Too much pressure, too many unknowns, too little time to figure out what to say when things go wonky.
Yeah, I know that sounds completely nutty, but if we’re not hanging out face to face then I just do better in writing.
Which rolls me back to texts. Granted, they’re not ideal in every situation. A decent breakup, for example – that really does demand an in person conversation. (Knock, knock – teens? are you listening?) But there are plenty of situations where texts are exactly what the doctor ordered.
** Friday night plans. For two people or twelve, get a group text going and Plans Are In Motion. Because coordinating a get together by phone or e-mail between large numbers of people is ridiculously difficult, but the pile on in text world is all about efficiency.
** “On the way.” Useful in car pools and bank robbery getaways, it’s the perfect heads up so you don’t find yourself idling in someone’s driveway. For half an hour. While they try to find their shoes.
** Substitute shopping assistance. I’ve been married for, like, a thousand years or something and yet I still can’t remember what deodorant my husband uses. Contact solution, soap, cereals, peas – all these I’ve got down cold, but deodorant? Arguably one of the most important personal hygiene products? Nope. I blame it on the fact that there are fifty variations within every brand sold. Solution? Snap a pic, text it, and ask, “Is this right?” ‘Cause nobody’s got time to return deodorant.
** Big News Blasts. Listen, I’m not talking “we’re having a baby” here. Some big news needs more finesse than a text. But if you want to let the entire family know your sixth grade baby made the school basketball team (HOLLA, BEAR!!!) then there’s nothing better than a group text. Quick, efficient, and no one gets bumfuzzled because they found out last.
** Kid updates. Listen, as much as I bitch about my kids and technology, I have to admit texting is a pretty sweet system. Items we’ve addressed via text over the last few months alone: time to come home, reminders to feed the dogs, requests to stay after for school events, if I’m running late to pickup, and a ton more I can’t even think of at the moment. Let’s just say when the kids get their phones taken away it hits all of us on the communication front.
This post reminds me…I really don’t text often enough. I don’t tweet either…not sure why ??? I guess they have increased the # of characters now, but still…
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Most of my texts are personal stuff – family updates, holiday dinners, touching base with hubby. Sometimes coordinating committees and such. My tweets are usually blog based though I do like to toss quotes out now and then. Is your blog linked to your twitter account? I never thought of myself as a big twitter user but I have found some followers through that platform.
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No. I prefer to keep WP isolated from the other stuff. I don’t link it to my Facebook page either. I started this blog writing about some very personal family issues, that I didn’t want to make public, in the interest of candor, and to keep my family from turning on me !
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Entirely reasonable. I remember having to sort my way through all that when I started mine, too — how much exposure was I willing to have, what was I planning to put out there on the blog & would I be okay with my friends and family seeing it. It’s a lot to decide.
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It surely is. I’m glad you get it.
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This is a topic on which I agree 100%! I worked at a job for nearly 20 years that required that I be on the phone nearly 8 hours every day – since then, I have serious phone-itis. My fingers work so much better than my brain trying to make words to spew through my vocal cords.
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You know, I started disliking phones a while ago but the feeling definitely amplified by a thousand once I worked that phone rep job. Even the sound of a ringing telephone was enough to see my teeth on edge.
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My favorite use is texting my daughter a photo of something with the caption “would mom like this?”
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So. Awesome.
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I support this post 🙂 Substitute shopping with a pic in text is the best.
And yeah, these people who take away their kids’ phones, I’m over here like “But…don’t YOU want to talk to them?!” We text all day in The Fam chat. Otherwise, how would we even know stuff? Get home like, “Where is everyone?” and “Who’ll be home for dinner?” I’d go nutsier.
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Taking the phone is EXCRUCIATING but it really hits home, especially with the boy, so sometimes we gotta bite the bullet.
I’m now smacking myself upside the head because can you believe we don’t have a family text set up?? It’ll drive my hubby batty probably, but it’s sounding freaking awesome to me.
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It’s best to turn the notifications off, but it’s really nice to peek in and catch up when we can 🙂
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Texting is awesome! Except when I text my wife at lunch time and she answers me at supper time. As for the deodorant… I wear what my wife buys because she thinks it smells good. 🙂
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Time lag is a riot, right? I’m okay with it, except when the text is a time sensitive question and then I’m all “WHY AREN’T YOU ANSWERING? IT TAKES TEN SECONDS TO TYPE YES OR NO.” But I try not to get all spazzy ‘cuz then I’ll be That Girl. 😉
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Texting…for those times you don’t really want to talk. LOL!
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But don’t want to seem like you’re giving someone the cold shoulder!
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