We all know some people in our lives that just can't put their phone down. They text when they’re at the dinner table, when they’re on the toilet and even when they’re in the middle of a conversation with other people. Those same people are the ones that complain that you don't give them your undivided attention and text them back in a timely manner.
I grew up in a time where I personally have seen my parents say goodbye to the beeper, move on to e-mailing, have an online page, and use instant-messaging and flip phones. Eventually from between 8 to 10 years old, I had my own e-mail address and cell phone. I have watched phone technology develop in my own hands since then. I remember being freaked out by touch-screen phones that I refused to have one despite my dad wanting me to upgrade. I very much enjoyed tapping the rubber buttons on my phone. I could text, I could call. It was all I needed. Occasionally my friends and I video-chatted on the computer, or we would send each other photos and videos with our phones. We didn't have a use for FaceTime because we physically had face time when we saw each other.
Wait... is this a tiny laptop? What is that?
Times have changed, and my generation surely has adapted with grace. It's natural. But for the past couple of years, I have grown to not care so much about the phone technology crazes. Is this my adult brain thinking? Is it because I'm a lame-o mom now? Not sure how this correlates, but I definitely don't care as much as many people in my age group.
Don't get me wrong, texting is totally cool (something a lame-one would say). It’s interesting to see how phone technology and social media platforms have developed. They bring people together. They make things easier and more convenient. But here’s the part that really bothers me: it’s too much.
We have the whole world and beyond literally in the palms of our hands, and we really know how to take advantage of that luxury.
We’re now programmed to be constantly updated on the latest news, and most of that is probably unnecessary to know. It’s practically shoved into our faces first thing in the morning. There are many distractions compacted into our handheld devices. When there’s nowhere to run, we pull out our handy-dandy smartphone to look like we’re doing something of substance.
We take advantage of the convenience of texting. We don’t have to sit at our computers on AIM for hours anymore (kids, if you don’t know what AIM is, I’m sorry but please refer to Google). That’s the beauty of texting, not to be at your every beck and call. Just like an e-mail, it can wait. But no—we want answers. We expect answers; and then we get offended when texts go unanswered for less than 2 hours… or 2 minutes.
I have been called "anti-social" for not replying to text messages. By the end of the day or just a few hours, I will have been bombarded with messages. I see them and reply to what I can before I'm off to the next thing I have to do during the day. Many texts require time to sit, read and reply with thought-out responses. Yet, I still get "yelled at" via text with angry cat emojis or elipses and question marks.
Honestly, that makes me anxious. It almost makes me feel guilty for going about a busy day without putting my friends and family first. But personally, I wouldn’t forget about them. And if it was an emergency, anyone in their right mind wouldn’t text it. They would call. I cannot fathom for the life of me that a text message could be considered urgent.
The same goes for heated arguments. If we do have a problem, it shouldn’t be solved over text anyway. That is a huge window for the opportunity of misinterpretation. I’d much rather speak on the phone or in person. If you don’t like that, I’m sorry but human interaction and conversation is logically the best way to go. If people have something to say and it just can’t wait until I see them, I advise them to say it and I’ll read it when I can and respond accordingly.
To me, whole text conversations with friends or family are acceptable when I know I won’t be seeing them for a few weeks to months or even years.
Otherwise, it’s just plain tedious. A consistent, drawn-out text conversation takes work and time no matter how fast you type. It requires you to wholly or partly disregard the people and environment around you.
Ah, good ol' family time...
This takes away from the concept of the convenience of texting. Short answers and quick conversations turn to what we call “novels” in our inbox. We are well informed with each other, up-to-date down to the nitty gritty and left with little to talk about in person. I know this circumstance isn’t true for everyone—for example; a lot of people go to school and work and just don’t have the time to hang out so they result to texting—but ideally, it is. We can choose which conversations can wait for a FaceTime date or a real face-to-face date.
Communication is a wonderful necessary thing, and texting contributes as an aide to that, but physical human interaction is important and even worth waiting for.
