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Post by Deleted on May 28, 2009 5:26:05 GMT
Do you do it? I think I might send about 2 text messages a month, although I can do a flurry of them as a joke on rare occasions.
However, the opening lines of a New York Times article about it really floored me:
They do it late at night when their parents are asleep. They do it in restaurants and while crossing busy streets. They do it in the classroom with their hands behind their backs. They do it so much their thumbs hurt.
Spurred by the unlimited texting plans offered by carriers such as AT&T Mobility and Verizon Wireless, American teenagers sent and received an average of 2,272 text messages per month in the fourth quarter of 2008, according to the Nielsen Co. — almost 80 messages a day, more than double the average of a year earlier.
I know that among my colleagues, we are all flabbergasted at how kids can send text messages under the dinner table without looking once at their mobile phone.
Are kids honing other skills that may lead to the extermination of adults because we just can't adapt?
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Post by bixaorellana on May 28, 2009 5:29:29 GMT
I'm a dinosaur. I don't have a cell phone (nor want one), and can't understand the point of texting except in some kind of emergency.
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Post by Deleted on May 28, 2009 5:38:25 GMT
I remember when text messages first started in Europe. We had them about 2 years before the United States, and American kids would see what the European kids were doing with the reaction: OMG! What's that?!? I have to have one of those immediately!!!
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Post by bixaorellana on May 28, 2009 5:47:42 GMT
Heaven knows Mexican kids -- and people old enough to know better as well -- are always frantically fooling with them.
There is a particular silly, slightly smug expression people get when the jerk our their phone and announce, "I got a text message!"
Makes me want to announce brightly, "I have a chancre!" or something similar. Jerks.
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Post by tillystar on May 28, 2009 8:50:47 GMT
I have a terrible phone phobia, I hate, hate, hate talking on the phone so I often text to make/confirm plans which is all I really use the phone for. Its great for me as my hatred of speaking of the phone can be overcome - yay! I probably send about 5 a day "what time you be at the station/are you picking up fat pants/can you pic up some bread" that kind of thing. Oh and when Mr Star is at work late I usually text him a photo of Lil Star saying good night, soppy cow I do hate those to55ers that text all day long and at tables in restaurants and when you are talking to them.
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Post by gyro on May 28, 2009 9:39:40 GMT
Stop being such pompous snobs you two. There's nothing wrong with using the medium of texting. Granted, those that are on it seemingly ALL the time are eejits, but it serves a purpose.
On average, it's a lot cheaper to text somebody if it is, for example, a perfunctory thing like arranging to meet or something. Texting "See at xxxxx aroun 8pm" or something like that is a lot cheaper and quicker than using the mobile to call and discuss the issue in most cases.
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Post by palesa on May 28, 2009 10:02:33 GMT
I also text a fair amount, even more so recently, texting is much cheaper and you can get to the point without all the waffle and pleasantries.
Kids, however, do tend to overdo it!
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Post by happytraveller on May 28, 2009 10:47:07 GMT
I use it quite a bit too, particularly when I am abroad I text my parents or vice versa, my dad and I find it quite funny
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Post by gyro on May 28, 2009 11:46:06 GMT
Although, to be fair, the one thing that I REALLY hate is text speak. ie. 'C U L8TR, M8'
Eeeeurrgh !
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Post by happytraveller on May 28, 2009 11:57:15 GMT
Eugh ! I can't stand that either Gyro.
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Post by Deleted on May 28, 2009 11:58:02 GMT
That's the only way some of them know how to write.
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Post by gyro on May 28, 2009 12:05:07 GMT
You're sounding like an old fogey today, K .....
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Post by Deleted on May 28, 2009 12:36:35 GMT
I kind of thought it was the opposite, gyro -- you're the one who said you can't stand it! I just said something that my friends in the teaching profession have already confirmed.
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Post by gyro on May 28, 2009 21:12:54 GMT
Oh, right. Yes, of course. Silly me.
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Post by gringalais on May 28, 2009 22:03:41 GMT
Like tillystar, I don't much care for talking on the phone, so for quick things that are easy to explain in a text I prefer that. It is usually cheaper too. Text speak does bug me too, though.
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Post by rikita on May 28, 2009 22:18:02 GMT
well i only have a prepaid card on my phone, so if i want to give only a quick information on something, it is much cheaper to text. like, let's say, when i go to my bf's town i will text him when i am half an hour away, so he knows when to expect me (and maybe pick me up at the train station).
also the advantage of getting texted is, that you have less pressure to react immediately. if i can't answer the phone just then, i have to call back later on, not even knowing if something important is going on or someone just wanted to say hello. with a text message i can read it when i find the time and then react accordingly.
but of course there are also occasions when calling is more appropriate.
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Post by Deleted on May 29, 2009 4:22:36 GMT
I agree that text messages are much better when you don't want to bother someone who might not be free to talk on the phone.
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Post by Deleted on Jun 1, 2009 20:42:19 GMT
Texting became a vital communication tool during and after Hurricane Katrina because it was almost impossible to reach anyone via voice phone for several days. Of course the cell phone people made a fortune off of it although I heard that one company gave huge breaks to people within a certain range. I rarely if ever use it but certainly can see its merits. I do know people who go overboard with it,young people in particular.
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Post by Kimby on Jun 2, 2009 4:23:30 GMT
I guess I COULD text, but my cell phone is a prepaid Tracfone, so though I pay no monthly fees and have no contract, the minutes all cost when I use them.
I did try to send a text once but changed my mind and cancelled it. Forever after I kept getting text messages - that I had to pay for - saying that I had an unsent text message. Which I could never find and delete. Didn't stop till I got a new phone.
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Post by auntieannie on Jun 3, 2009 21:14:53 GMT
I do text regularly. an average of one message a day, perhaps? Since I am on a contract, I tend to call my bf as well almost everyday. But I should revert to pay as you go sooner rather than later.
Modified to agree that textspeak is... despicable!
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Post by BigIain on Jun 3, 2009 21:28:45 GMT
I send loads of texts, each one is fully punctuated and spelled in full. I get 600 free each month from Vodafone and tend to use around half of that amount.
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Post by Kimby on Jun 3, 2009 22:44:33 GMT
As a volunteer at two museums and a nature center, I see my share of thank you notes. You would not believe how poorly some 5th graders spell. Lately though, the mispellings look suspiciously like text-speak. I'm not sure these kids are any more literate, however, than the ones who just plain can't spell.
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Post by traveler63 on Jun 6, 2009 2:42:17 GMT
I am lol(laughing out loud). My two granddaughters text all the time, they can be in their rooms, their Dad yells at them, no answer so he picks up his phone and texts them in their rooms!!!!! One cell phone bill was 589 pages long. They have a special all inclusive rate. I am relenting and going to trade my phone in for a full keyboard, sorry!!! It's self defense!!!
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Post by rikita on Jun 6, 2009 15:33:16 GMT
well in some years it will be something else i suppose...
but as for text speak - i would say it depends. text speak for the sake of it, and ununderstandable stuff is annoying. but if i want to cram all information into one message, i do sometimes write "u" instead of "you" etc. especially since i seem to constantly find myself in the situation of having only just enough money for one or two more texts on my phone...
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Post by Kimby on Jun 8, 2009 17:53:53 GMT
The city council of Missoula, Montana, just passed a law banning texting and cell phone use while driving or bicycling. I support it, though many look at it as an infringement of their god-given right to be an idiot!
This is similar to the opposition to drinkng whilst driving, which was abolished only a couple years ago in Montana. Mainly to keep receiving federal highway monies....
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Post by imec on Jun 8, 2009 17:56:12 GMT
Current issue here at the moment is the banning of texting by news reporters in courtrooms.
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Post by Kimby on Jun 8, 2009 18:01:52 GMT
Reporters were "Tweeting" from a federal courtroom in Missoula and were banned from doing this.
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Post by Kimby on Jun 10, 2009 16:06:30 GMT
The city council of Missoula, Montana, just passed a law banning texting and cell phone use while driving or bicycling..... And then the mayor vetoed all but the part banning texting while biking or driving. Had he signed the original version, it would have been the strictest cell phone law in the nation. Too many people contacted the mayor complaining about their "rights" being taken away. How about my right to be safe on the roads from idiots distracted by their cell phones? Studies show that even hands-free cell phone use occupies the mind in a way that impacts driving comparable to being under the influence of alcohol!
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Post by distantshores on Jun 10, 2009 17:15:44 GMT
I send text messages almost everyday myself. It's very efficient for me when I don't actually need to talk with the person on the other end. I also have a daughter who lives 2 hours away and sometimes I'll send her a short note during the day telling her I'm thinking of her or that I love her. My duty as a Dad! And I have several friends and clients that I'll send a confirmation text to about lunch or an appointment. But I don't overdo it and I text BEFORE I drive!!!
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Post by ninchursanga on Jun 14, 2009 9:42:38 GMT
I used to text a lot. In the Netherands the Vodafone contract gave me 300 text messages a month and I used them all. In Turkey I also texted a lot cause I could only get pre-paid which is rather expensive and therefore I tried to avoid making phonecalls. Texting also caters my phone-phobia, I hate calling people and texting is low-level communication that doesn't come with too much human interaction.
Btw, I was totally surprised that in the US people use their mobiles to call and text all the time while driving! The Netherlands has a fairly strict law on this and you get high fines if you are caught using your mobile while driving. Here in Germany I also don't see people doing that and the majority seems to understand that it makes traffic safer. It was totally beyond me why this is not forbidden in the US and I'm quite sure that a large number of traffic accidents are the result of someone driving and texting/calling.
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