1. Over the past couple of years text messaging has become the new “in thing” for communication. I have not fallen into this trap…yet. Sure its only another $5 on my cell phone plan with T-Mobile but I already pay $50 a month to be able to communicate with people. Why would I want to pay more to be able to accomplish the same goal of sending communication.
2. How many times have you seen people who get in a text-a-thon with their friend and that same conversation ends up lasting 15 minutes waiting for them to respond when a quick 3 minute or less phone call would suffice.
3. What about when the message you are trying to send to your friend gets misinterpreted. The problem with this form of communication is that it is meant to be a short message but sometimes it can come off as being…short. We all hate it when somebody is short with us because it shows they do not want to listen or do not care. Its so easy to jump to conclusion on what somebody is trying to get at but it probably is not what the intended message is all about. This results in a phone call having to be made to clarify what the intentions of the last remark were. This adds on more time to a communication period which could have been easily reduced be half through a quick phone call.
4. Without being able to hear somebody’s voice you really can’t get a feel for what they are trying to say. Without hearing the tone of the persons voice its hard to tell if they are joking, being friendly, or being mean. Of course you can assume what they are trying to do and you are probably right some 83% of the time but what if your not. Here is a good example. Text “Hey Asshole” to any of your friends while keeping a straight face, a mad face, or a happy face. See if they can determine how you are trying to express yourself to them.
5. Everyone assumes that you have a texting plan. I don’t because I prefer to call. At first it started with my ex-boss at Quicken Loans. He texted me all the time and it cost me $.10 to receive or send a text. I informed him I did not have the plan but he kept doing it. So I told him for every text he sent me I would charge him $.25. To collect I would go by his desk and take from his loose change jar at least a dollar worth of change ahead of time and inform him he has a credit with me now. I informed him about the transaction and he was fine with it. Of course they implemented a policy where every person who was a Senior Mortgage Banker had to have a BlackBerry so this put the kabosh on texting because now we were receiving emails. This did not make me happy because now my phone bill went up $15 for that service.
6. The art of the conversation is going to be lost. Even I have noticed a slight decrease in how I can articulate with friends and family members because I am on the computer so much. There are some people who are quite better are texting than I ever hope to be and getting paid for it.
7. I like the idea of a short conversation but how many times have you texted somebody and what the conversation was about ended in a one to one exchange of text messages. Probably never. There always has to be at least 5-8 text messages relayed to end the conversation. Is this being effective or abusing what the text message is intended for?
8. Its rude…in a way. Its better than somebody picking up their phone when your out at dinner or in a public place. However, now since you must wait to receive a text back to inform the rest of the company you are with what the other person is doing it puts a hault to whatever the party was talking about. You can’t just move on because now you are distracted waiting for a return text message.
9. Even if you have your phone on vibrate it will be going off twice as much now as if you would have just called once. Remember that every conversation takes more than 5 texts to complete so your dumb phone is going to be vibrating all over the place up to a minimum of 5 more times distracting those around you.
10. Text messaging can bring down empires because now there is actual documentation of a message. Don’t think its a big deal. Ask the former Mayor of Detroit Kwame Kilpatrick.
