Text Messaging

[Missoula Griz]

I dont understand it. It takes me 10 times as long to text someone back. What happened to just calling people on the phone.

 

I swear my 6th grader does not even talk on his phone. He just text's friends. I ask him to just call them, but he says texting is what kids do now days.

 

Do you text much, or just call people on your phone?

 

I get parents who text me on practice and games times. I just call them back. Weird, or am I just that old?

[CaP'N GRuNGe]

Post your phone number and we can have a conference call to discuss this topic.

[Double Agent]

I hate texting. I've got a new phone with a keyboard so I kind of text now. Before I would just ignore the text. I see people texting while driving all the time. Freakin' idiots.

[twiley]

I text all the time but not while driving.

[yo mama]

I was slow to adopt it. But I find it helpful when I need to quickly communicate a fact or message but don't have the ability to engage in a conversation. Perhaps I'm in a meeting, trying to wrangle the kids, at dinner, etc. It's also helpful to be able to send a clear message without background noise, which would have otherwise obscured a voice mail.

[MrTed46]

I am king of texting.

 

Hated it at first but now love it.

[Fatman]

I call/text about 60/40. Certainly a quick time saver for things like where to meet up or if a bar is loud. Definitely diminishing returns, however, for things that could be solved in a 20 second phone call.

[AtomicCEO]

I get parents who text me on practice and games times. I just call them back. Weird, or am I just that old?

 

You are old.

 

Texting, IMing... genius.

 

If you call me, I have to drop what I am doing and talk to you. You have disrupted me from what I'm doing, and all the pleasantries are going to take 5 minutes for you to ask me a stupid question.

 

If you text me, I can ignore it emporarily if I'm in the middle of something, and then when I have a second, quickly look at it and know exactly what you want without having to call voicemail and listen to your long rambling boring message. It usually will take less time than a phone call, but I won't get disrupted.

 

Unless you're a girl looking to check to see how I'm feeling, or a salesman who needs to caress my sack to talk me into something... just send me a text. Whatever question or issue you have will get solved much faster.

[twiley]

If you call me, I have to drop what I am doing and talk to you. You have disrupted me from what I'm doing, and all the pleasantries are going to take 5 minutes for you to ask me a stupid question.

It's like you're reading my mind.

[DMD]

Y R U A HATR?

[Missoula Griz]

You are old.

 

Texting, IMing... genius.

 

If you call me, I have to drop what I am doing and talk to you. You have disrupted me from what I'm doing, and all the pleasantries are going to take 5 minutes for you to ask me a stupid question.

 

If you text me, I can ignore it emporarily if I'm in the middle of something, and then when I have a second, quickly look at it and know exactly what you want without having to call voicemail and listen to your long rambling boring message. It usually will take less time than a phone call, but I won't get disrupted.

 

Unless you're a girl looking to check to see how I'm feeling, or a salesman who needs to caress my sack to talk me into something... just send me a text. Whatever question or issue you have will get solved much faster.

 

God I am glad your not my neighbor

[Perchoutofwater]

The only time I text is when I'm in a meeting or the person I need to get in touch with is in a meeting. My brother and I will also text while deer hunting to let each other know what we see, or to let the other one know we are coming up behind them. For the most part I hate text messages. My wife has kind of gotten into it, and she probably does 10 to 15 a day where as unless I'm hunting I might do one or two a week. I've finally gotten my wife to realize that I will not answer a text when she knows good and well she can call me.

[budlitebrad]

Chicks dig texting.

[chester]

I HATE talking on the phone. Texting is so much easier.

 

I do it in the car every once in a while. I can't think of anything less safe, except doing it drunk.

[loaf]

I belong to MATWD

[twiley]

Twitter is a cool text service but you need a group of people for it to really work. We use it in our office.

[MikesVikes]

I dont understand it. It takes me 10 times as long to text someone back. What happened to just calling people on the phone.

 

I swear my 6th grader does not even talk on his phone. He just text's friends. I ask him to just call them, but he says texting is what kids do now days.

 

Do you text much, or just call people on your phone?

 

I get parents who text me on practice and games times. I just call them back. Weird, or am I just that old?

 

This is exactly how I feel about texting. Yes, it means we are getting old. I've only sent 1 or 2 text messages ever and that was when my kids didn't answer their phone.

[TimC]

First and only text message I've ever received was Controller sending me a text message that I was up in a draft. I didn't even know my phone did text. I replied "OK".

 

Got the bill and it was 30 cents. 15 cents a gawd-danged letter. Them bass turds.

[McBoog]

...I swear my 6th grader does not even talk on his phone. He just text's friends. I ask him to just call them, but he says texting is what kids do now days. ...

 

Though this feature can be useful (I'm in a meeting and can't answer the phone, noisy area, etc.) the part of your post above is potentially VERY concerning. We want to trust our kids, but we also have a responsibility to monitor what they do as well.

 

One of the reasons why kids like to text so much is that the "conversations" are much more private than a phone call (you get to hear at least half of the conversation) and more so than using the family computer for IMing (assuming the computer is in a public area and the screen is visible to the room). I know I did not like it growing up, but we had three phones in the house. Parents room, kitchen and living room. None were cordless, even when the technology became available. NOBODY called the house after 9:00 p.m. (that was considered rude and intrusive). My parents seemed to be respectful of my "private" conversations and were never overt in listening in, but just the fact that you could be overheard made you monitor yourself.

 

The safest thing as a parent that you can do for your child is to have non-text capable phones that purchases time in advance. Also, kids should never have computers with internet access in their own rooms. These computers should be in a public area of the house with the screens facing toward the room so that you as the parent can observe what is going on and what they are looking at. Non-educational I-net time should be negotiated and limited to a specific amount of time per day with both of you agreeing to it.

 

Kids have developed a complete code for IM conversations like CHAT ABBREVIATIONS

 

The above link has 13 pages of abbreviations and it has almost become its own language. One of the ways that under cover police get exposed in the chatrooms is by not knowing this code. It makes people hinky if they are not dialed into this.

 

Some examples are:

 

P911 = my parents are coming!

PA = parent alert

PAL = parents are listening

PANB = parents are nearby

 

When a kid has their own cell phone, the small window, ability to hide the actual conversation and even remove themselves completely from any for of direct supervision could be a recipe for trouble and potential predation by a child predator.

 

This is a good place to start form more information! My unit works closely with the NCMEC and I give presentations to schools and PTA meetings. You would be amazed at how many kids an parents alike do not realize the dangers that kids face and the ignorance parents possess in keeping them safe!

[Egret]

I don't text people too often, but I like to send texts to google. If I need an address or a phone number, it's usually easiest to send a text to google. Amazon has a new text service where you can send a UPC code and it will send you their price. That could come in handy if I'm stuck at a store and I want to compare a price.

[Missoula Griz]

Though this feature can be useful (I'm in a meeting and can't answer the phone, noisy area, etc.) the part of your post above is potentially VERY concerning. We want to trust our kids, but we also have a responsibility to monitor what they do as well.

 

One of the reasons why kids like to text so much is that the "conversations" are much more private than a phone call (you get to hear at least half of the conversation) and more so than using the family computer for IMing (assuming the computer is in a public area and the screen is visible to the room). I know I did not like it growing up, but we had three phones in the house. Parents room, kitchen and living room. None were cordless, even when the technology became available. NOBODY called the house after 9:00 p.m. (that was considered rude and intrusive). My parents seemed to be respectful of my "private" conversations and were never overt in listening in, but just the fact that you could be overheard made you monitor yourself.

 

The safest thing as a parent that you can do for your child is to have non-text capable phones that purchases time in advance. Also, kids should never have computers with internet access in their own rooms. These computers should be in a public area of the house with the screens facing toward the room so that you as the parent can observe what is going on and what they are looking at. Non-educational I-net time should be negotiated and limited to a specific amount of time per day with both of you agreeing to it.

 

Kids have developed a complete code for IM conversations like CHAT ABBREVIATIONS

 

The above link has 13 pages of abbreviations and it has almost become its own language. One of the ways that under cover police get exposed in the chatrooms is by not knowing this code. It makes people hinky if they are not dialed into this.

 

Some examples are:

 

P911 = my parents are coming!

PA = parent alert

PAL = parents are listening

PANB = parents are nearby

 

When a kid has their own cell phone, the small window, ability to hide the actual conversation and even remove themselves completely from any for of direct supervision could be a recipe for trouble and potential predation by a child predator.

 

This is a good place to start form more information! My unit works closely with the NCMEC and I give presentations to schools and PTA meetings. You would be amazed at how many kids an parents alike do not realize the dangers that kids face and the ignorance parents possess in keeping them safe!

 

Thank you for your response. Very educational.

[Caveman_Nick]

I text people for drafts and stuff all the time.

 

Gets the question I want to ask in their hands and skips the smalltalk BS included in a phonecall. Also takes up less of my time directly, because I can read the response much faster than I can listen to someone hem and haw about who's been picked and what the frack should they do, etc.

 

P.S. I :heart: all of my league mates

Edited April 30, 2008 by Caveman_Nick

[Big Country]

I text plenty. Wife needs to tell me something quickly, she prefers to text me rather than call me at work. Fine by me. Twiley wants to send pics of the twoobs next to a bottle of beer. He texts me. Much better than trying to be sure to be at the fax machine.

 

I've got some unlimited text plan I think, about $5 or $10 a month for it.

[chiefjay]

Twiley wants to send pics of the twoobs next to a bottle of beer. He texts me.

 

How do I get on this plan?

[twiley]

How do I get on this plan?

You've got a long journey ahead of yourself before you get on that plan.