When I was in middle school, texting was the coolest invention. Kids were fascinated by it. Adults were fascinated by it. I can punch these keypads a bunch of times, and they will actually form words? I don’t actually have to have a conversation with someone through this little communicator? I can just text a jumble of words! Who remembers T9 Word? Kids these days don’t even have any idea how easy they’ve got it; they have a full keyboard on a touch screen. What are buttons?
But now I’m 20, and I absolutely despise texting. Sure, you’ll catch me constantly on my phone and my thumbs skating across the screen, but I am not enjoying it. I’ve always viewed texting to be useful for those inconvenient, inappropriate times like a quick message in class or when you’re busy in a meeting.
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Unfortunately, not many people feel the same way I do. Teenagers and even some adults now have a legitimate fear of talking on the phone. They refuse, even if it happens to be someone they know or are comfortable with. “What do you mean I have to call my mom and ask her to pick up milk? Can’t I just text her that instead?” Oh, the complete and utter horror.
I guess you could call me a Chatty Cathy. If someone calls me, I am more than eager to pick up. I love phone conversations. I love long phone conversations. I love meaningful phone conversations. I love stupid, pointless and weird phone conversations. It’s just a lot easier for me to enjoy myself when I can actually hear the other person and not have to spend agonizing minutes analyzing what the tone of their text message is.
Call me up. Let me hear your voice. Let me hear the background noise of you rustling through laundry or shopping in a store. Let me hear you get slightly out of breath while you sprint upstairs. Let me hear you swear for dropping the remote underneath the bed.
Phone calls are just a lot more personal. They hold more meaning to me. I can put you on speaker or cradle my phone in between my chin and shoulder, and the longer I talk to you the more I imagine you’re actually there with me. I'm not physically there when you curse at yourself for stubbing your toe, but I can picture it, and it will bring a smile to my face.
I think phone calls are also literary in a certain sense. People don’t write about all night texting marathons. They write about two people who can have a conversation for hours on end. Unfortunately, texting is replacing the old communication art forms of a long distance phone call or a handwritten letter. Why bother with either one when I can just key out a quick response in a message of 140 characters or less?
I don’t want anything to do with your text messages and emails. I want meaningful, deep, eccentric conversations in the middle of the night. I want the conversation to go from evolution and the "Big Bang Theory" to the eventual extinction of shopping malls in low-income areas to religion and how it’s a cool concept, but sometimes people just take it too seriously.
