Texting

[Tig***]

Excellent point, PBP! Being subjected to someone's half of a conversation (usually too loud for some reason) can be a pain.
Maybe I've become old fashioned, but being considerate of others is an important priority and value to me. I try to pass that on to my kids.

[piebaldpython***]

+1 on the consideration thing.

One other point.......I live in a big city, take public transit, there's just always people "around" so the less annoying one is to others (haha), maybe the less chance you'll tick somebody off and have something bad happen to you.

This isn't a knock on living in little towns and stuff.......but just an explanation of why texting is such a good thing in terms of minimalizing personal annoyances...at least in a big city or crowded area (like a sports event or a concert).

[deeaa*]

I just don't see why does it have to be texting...SMS's cost money. Email would be much better. Or skype, or something. I suppose most teens now have iPhones or something similar anyway. Hell my friend just bought her 7-year old daughter an iPhone.

[piebaldpython***]

Texting is about SPEED. E-mail is too cumbersome for a phone for short, brief messages. SKYPE would be just as annoying as a phone call with no privacy.

In this age of 2 income families with a couple of kids, cell phones/texting is how they manage to stay in contact with each other to let others know of changed plans, etc. As I said before, a necessary evil.

It would be nice to have a leisurely private conversation by phone.....but that isn't always possible.

[sunvalleylaw]

Now get off my lawn!

HEY!!! I was gonna work that line into this thread!!

PBP, yah, I suppose texting can be superior in certain circumstances as you describe. And certainly loud conversations in public can be annoying as well. So there is a time and place for everything I suppose. I would like to see people learn the art of conversation more than they seem to doing right now. Mutual respect, empathy, etc. is more easily developed in conversation with humans. You have to actually see and hear them. It is one reason why conversations on these forums can be challenging at times. Maybe going far afield from texting here, but I sure would like people to learn the art of a civil argument or debate. It seems like we just want to yell at each other now, rather than discuss the issues. Sneetches and all that. Texting probably is not to blame. But moving further and further into the habit of communicating with each other via technology rather than contact can't be helping all that much in terms of the overall trend.

(Doesn't mean it is not ok to have a quick convo on the bus about something at work or whatever I suppose. )

[Tig***]

I take a 40 minute bus ride to and from work as well. It usually has only a dozen people since it is a reverse commute, and there is always someone damn near yelling during their phone conversation. I listen to audio books and have to crank the volume up a bit.

I never see someone doing the loud phone routine when the bus is full, however. As the numbers increase, so does the peer pressure, I guess.


As for security, I keep a can of pepper gel available. It is designed to affect only the target, unlike sprays that can vaporize quickly, especially in high winds or enclosed areas. It is also legal to carry on public transportation and into my work.

[sunvalleylaw]

Heh, heh. I like to ride the Wood River bike path into work when I can. Don't use a bus much. Texting is hard on a bike! http://www.traillink.com/imagehandle...?id=26302&t=lg

[R_of_G]

Excellent point PBP. When I'm in a public situation, I'd much rather have those around me texting than being subjected to half of their conversation, or subjecting them to half of mine for that matter.

Personally, I enjoy texting more than the consensus here it seems, though I don't text while driving. If someone sends me a text while I'm in the car I won't read it until I get to a red light and I don't answer it until I get where I'm going unless it's urgent, and even then I'll pull over into a parking lot or something to text the person back.

[poodlesrule]

HEY!!! I was gonna work that line into this thread!!

I would like to see people learn the art of conversation more than they seem to doing right now. Mutual respect, empathy, etc. is more easily developed in conversation with humans. You have to actually see and hear them.. ..
snip
I sure would like people to learn the art of a civil argument or debate. moving further and further into the habit of communicating with each other via technology rather than contact can't be helping all that much in terms of the overall trend.)

Going even further, I have become afraid of the fact that, with current communication technologies, some folks can build a walled garden around them, without the need to venture out and say to the guy next to him/her, "Hey, what's shaking..?" or "Gee dude.. your Tevas could use a wash!" i.e, I acknowledge you exist, and I want to interact with you 'cause it's human nature to want that.

And I am still mad at the a**hat who was texting the whole time next to me during the most excellent Soulive concert I went to... two years ago!

[Robert****]

I would like to go back in time. 1960 would be long enough.

[Tig***]

I would like to go back in time. 1960 would be long enough.

I've been watching Mad Men lately

[omegadot]

If you send me a number or an address in a text I will have it like a note. If you tell me it on the phone I'll forget it and if it's in an email it could get lost with work crap. There are definitely times where the format is very nice.

But in all reality it's text, and so is email. And both are just a bunch of words. If the format upsets you you need to SIT THE @#$% DOWN and calm yourself.

[deeaa*]

I guess it depends on the phone, but on smartphones it doesn't really work even as fast as the instant messengers do. I use Gmail and thus I'm available for chat for other gmail users, and that's pretty much as you type speed communication. SMS messages take seconds at best and minutes at worst to arrive. Annd I suppose it's not usual but on my phone I've sometimes gotten text messages that were sent hours earlier.

I think texting will quickly give way to Gtalk, Skype, Facebook messaging (which seems to me kids at school use the most) and such. But it's just a technical matter, the core of the idea is the same.

And yes, it's just because people are so effin' busy these days, all the day. Always in the middle of doing something. I have a few moments in my day that I'm not busy and would have time to chit-chat over the phone; one is in the morning between six and seven or so, give or take 30 minutes, when I wake up with the kid and everyone else is asleep. That's mostly when I write and read on forums like TheFret.

Similarly I have another hour or a little less from 8 to 9 pm when I'm putting the kids to bed, and that's also good time for forums. Or maybe mobile gaming.

All that basically means, though, that on a typical day I will communicate HUGELY more on online forums than with any real person, if you don't count in the talking in class to pupils I suppose. Naah, even then I probably write much more words than speak during the day.

[piebaldpython***]

If you send me a number or an address in a text I will have it like a note. If you tell me it on the phone I'll forget it and if it's in an email it could get lost with work crap. There are definitely times where the format is very nice.

Excellent point......one that I use a lot. If I'm at the store or getting take-out at say.....SaladWorks........the girls can text me their order rather than me trying to remember what they said on the phone.

I probably am in the same camp as R of G on this.......Texting is an ADDITIONAL form of communication, not a REPLACEMENT. Something that makes life easier in the long run.

[deeaa*]

Google to the rescue with the numbers etc...I always just ask the person whose number I want to call my number, not answer it, and then just give it a name and it'll stay in Google Contacts forever and be available on all devices and platforms. I don't even save contacts on my phone any more, no need. They're all always synchronized anyway. With any luck the other guy or gal is a Google user also and I get the addresses and all too. Gmail is my primary method for saving important info too; I may send stuff to myself from my phone for instance quite often. Like taking a quick snapshot from an address or piece of information and it'll go directly to Gmail. I delete all my 'unnecessary' email as I get it, usually from my phone, but anything that might have something useful is in gmail and will stay there. Then I can just quickly search for it directly from any device.

I guess one reason I don't use texting much is that while my company gave me a work telephone, it's just a cheap junker of a phone, so I NEVER use it, I mean, I do my work calls on my phone almost always...well sometimes I might use the work phone to call someone, because that's what it's for...so I don't have to pay for work calls myself...but I rather pay than use that junker. Now, I have call forwarding always on so when I get work calls, they are redirected to my personal phone, but the catch is texts messages are NOT forwarded, plus now I have to actually pay for work calls I get. But it's like $10 a month at worst so no matter. But...I may not even open my work phone for weeks and sometimes I miss some texts because of that. I just keep it in the charger on the table and it gets lost under the papers there for long times.

Bloody annoying at work that BTW they won't give me a proper phone...if it were even an iPhone I'd probably use it. Anything, but it's just a normal old-style cell. Probably costs under $20.

But that's the trend...I had to fight for two years to get a laptop instead of desktop at work...and when I finally got it, they'd only give me a 19" external display, which I refused. I've been trying to get at least 24" for external display, or I won't accept any. Rather just use the laptop's own display. Also had to buy a laser printer before they arranged for mobile printer connections, and I tried to get a scanner but had to buy my own anyway, as I did an external drive for backups etc. Also for mobile connection they only gave me a measly 512K 3G connection so I got me a 21MB 4G connection with my own expense so I can use YouTube videos etc. in class from my laptop which is always hooked to the class video projector or smartscreen.

Been thinking of installing an SSD drive on my work laptop too at my own expense...it's strictly forbidden to do such mods to these leased machines but I'm on good grounds with the IT folk...and they gave me admin rights to the machine so I could just clone the disk and nobody would notice :-) but this is a pretty fast i5 laptop anyway so maybe not. If I happen to have a spare SSD some of these days I might, but won't buy one for just that use.

[Tig***]

Yeah, but pen and paper works even when there is a power outage!
(or without an outage, and faster, too)

[omegadot]

My acoustic world without power but will that lessen the joy from my jag? HELLS NO!

Wiggity wham wham wozle!

Sent from my ADR6300 using Tapatalk

[Katastrophe]

Officially lost at post #36.

[R_of_G]

Officially lost at post #36.

Well I get this part...

Wiggity wham wham wozle!

...unless he's not making a Futurama reference and that's just something he's prone to saying.