Text messaging

iVillage Member
Registered: 11-13-2004
Text messaging
10
Wed, 02-15-2006 - 3:08pm
Deerider's post prompts this question..
What is it with text messaging?
I'm kind of a tekkie and and wired for practically everything, yet I don't grasp this concept. What am I missing?
I hear it's common for kids to TM more than using actual call minutes. Why?
Isn't it cumbersome to "type" on a phone keypad?
I've never sent or received one of these. It seems a lot easier to hit one button on my cell phone if I want to contact someone or leave someone a message.
Or there's always that "old fashioned" e-mail.
Please help me out here! Ha!....DD is driving me nuts. Probably not going to change anything, but I need to at least "get it."
iVillage Member
Registered: 12-22-2003
In reply to: daddioe
Wed, 02-15-2006 - 4:21pm

I have SOME idea why text messaging is so popular. According to DD's friend E, kids at her school hide their phones in their laps or behind a pile of books on their desks and 'talk' to one another during class. I imagine this goes on in most every school. Turn the ringer down to vibrate and the teacher doesn't usually notice. What's so important that they can't wait 50 minutes to say, or what it is they talk about, I've no idea.

I'm guilty of sending tm's. DD is at school all day and I don't see her much, so I'll send a message asking about her day, or whatever. I assume she is in the library or computer lab where cell phones aren't allowed, so I send a tm rather than call and p**s off the librarian or computer aid. And, if I think of something during the day I forgot to tell her before she left school (ie, ortho appt 2day; pick U up at 3:00) I'll send the message during school hours because I know she turns the phone on the minute the bell rings and she'll get the message.

But for the life of me, I can't imagine why they send tm's after school hours, weekends, etc., when they can just use the thing and CALL their friends. It IS a telephone, for Pete's sake.

Conversation is definitely a dying art with our teens. And can you imagine what they're writing skills will end up being?

"Ur so kut wen U try to talk like ur kewl!" Egad.

iVillage Member
Registered: 10-21-2005
In reply to: daddioe
Wed, 02-15-2006 - 4:25pm
Daddioe,
Dd doesn't have a cell phone and dh's and mine are old enough that they don't do anything but (gasp!) call people. I'm not sure how much help I can be, but my guess is that it is just another way to slip beneath the parental radar. It also shows how cool and popular you are to be constantly receiving TMs. That's the cynical side of me speaking ... I know some parents use it to reach their kids to check in without having to actually ring the phone and hence put the kid in the horrible position of admitting to peers that he/she actually speaks to the parental units.
jt
Avatar for mjaye2002
iVillage Member
Registered: 03-26-2003
In reply to: daddioe
Wed, 02-15-2006 - 5:54pm

re: Conversation is definitely a dying art with our teens. And can you imagine what they're writing skills will end up being?

"Ur so kut wen U try to talk like ur kewl!" Egad.

BWAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!!!
(just a lurker, but you actually made me laugh out loud!)

iVillage Member
Registered: 03-26-2003
In reply to: daddioe
Wed, 02-15-2006 - 5:58pm

You don't understand because you're just an old fogie! ;-)

Seriously, I don't understand the attraction either, but it has saved me on my niece's cell phone bill (that I pay for). Less talking minutes, unlimited text messaging. :-)

And no, it's not cumbersome to them--I've watched her in action. They know exactly how many times to push the number to get to the right letter. In fact, she could have texted(?) the previous sentence faster than it took me to type it.

And email? Puh-leeeze! It's all about IM now, Daddioe.

Thank goodness DS has no interest in TM -- he and his friends actually make the call on the cells, and use IM. No home phone calls, though, only communicate on the cells.

As long as they're not texting during class or other responsibilities, I really don't see anything wrong with it.

Laura

iVillage Member
Registered: 02-14-2000
In reply to: daddioe
Wed, 02-15-2006 - 6:24pm
Well you best come right out of lurkdom and introduce yourself!
Pam
iVillage Member
Registered: 10-16-1999
In reply to: daddioe
Wed, 02-15-2006 - 6:32pm

I'm not sure what it is with the kids and texting, but I know it's fairly common.

iVillage Member
Registered: 12-22-2003
In reply to: daddioe
Wed, 02-15-2006 - 7:45pm

I was pretty much cracking myself up today. Glad you got a laugh in too!

And I agree with Pam ... time to de-lurk! :)

Avatar for momtb4
iVillage Member
Registered: 03-27-2003
In reply to: daddioe
Wed, 02-15-2006 - 7:45pm
o, daddioe, your jaw would drop if you ever watched my son tm! LOL He can send a tm WHILE working on his car, without ever looking at the screen! They do use a great deal of short cut, stuff that takes me a minute to sort out, decipher the code, so to speak. I still prefer a good, old fashion phone call. But, like you, I'm an old fogie. I sort of like being an old fogie....
iVillage Member
Registered: 10-16-1999
In reply to: daddioe
Wed, 02-15-2006 - 8:06pm

Yeah, I've seen the working on the car, DRIVING the car, and who knows what else while tming, never looking at the screen.

iVillage Member
Registered: 11-13-2004
In reply to: daddioe
Wed, 02-15-2006 - 8:22pm
Thank you all...
It seems like this is just the going trend with a few minor advantages, but nothing substantially different from any other electonic medium.
I really wasn't sure if there were some other reasons why this is so popular.