I remember getting my first cell phone in like 8th grade. I was one of the first amongst my friends to have this device, and I took full advantage of it. Everyday I would have hour long conversations with all my friends, it was great.
As my peers began to jump on the cell phone bandwagon, they began to have extra features I didn't have, well mostly one feature: unlimited texting. I would get so frustrated when people would text now instead of calling, especially since I didn't have that option on my phone. The worst was when people would text me, then since I had no texting plan, I would call them. There would be times where I would text some people back, until the other person tried to turn it into some sort of conversation which was not okay with me. If I text you back, you should feel privileged...
In college, my dad finally let me have a few hundred texts. I was so psyched, but I still had to contain that excitement because in the texting world, one text can be wasted on a word like 'k', which I disliked very much. To the best of my ability, I tried fitting a whole few sentences into each text in order to preserve my texting abilities every month. Seeing how the texting world is completely different than calling, I became addicted. Not all the time can we pick up our phones to answer a call. The days are filled with school, work, internships, meetings, talking to other people...how rude is it that you pick up your phone to have a conversation with someone when you're amongst others? Texting proved the victor-anyone can text anytime, anyplace..you can continuously keep in contact with someone throughout the day through texting...texting other can keep you company in a boring class, or when there's nothing to do at work....oh the wonderful world of texting!!!
The time came when I got my official Blackberry smartphone with unlimited calling, unlimited texting, AND unlimited data plan. I immediately fell in love. Now I can text anyone as many times as I wanted, and bbm?!? how addictive!! it's AIM on your phone, yet exclusive to those of the Blackberry community. I see it as Blackberry's own Twitter, being that I don't have one myself, but I love how I can update my statuses constantly and post pics.
Caught up in this cyber world, I have come to find that texting has taken over phone calls. The purpose of getting someone's number is to text them, not really to call them. What's the worst is when you call someone, and instead they text you back. Why can't you return the phone call? If I wanted to text you, I would've done that instead, but no I took the time to call you. I've been realizing that as great as texting is, when you call someone, the job gets done a lot faster! For instance, in deciding where to go, something like 30 texts are used? Why not just make a quick phone call, a few minutes of your time to figure something out. Texting gets frustrating when you're waiting for the recipient to text you back, that's the worst. Then after all the waiting, they text you back something so little in response which makes you not want to have a conversation anymore.
What has this social world come to? Yes there are many advantages of texting, but I believe that taking time out of your schedule to call someone or call someone back is more meaningful. When talking to someone, a lot more miscommunication is definitely avoided because you can hear someone's emotions through their voice. I believe many arguments can be avoided just by talking things out, instead of texting where an argument turns into a problem over the course of a few hours. Don't let texting get the best of us, calling someone up from time to time won't hurt, but it will make relationships last a lifetime.
You Just Do You, Imma Do Me
CamiLLe
