Is Texting Overrated?

[Niko Bellic 817]

I really can't stand how popular texting people has become. I really hate doing it, especially on the Iphone. It takes so long because my big fingers usually press the wrong buttons. The worst part about it is when people do it while driving. They could get into a crash much more easily that way.

[DisappearingMist]

It IS overrated. However, I do it all too often. I have to pay $.20 for each text, so I try to make them count. It is the only way to communicate with one of my brothers in law. He won't answer calls, just texts. It's also a quick way to communicate if I don't want to spend time making small talk.

I get frustrated when people are texting in public, like at the store or in a restaurant. Can't it wait until you are done buying your sandwich?

[ShellShocker]

Yeah, I think it is overrated. I don't even have a phone anyway. I bet I'd be slow at typing on a phone anyway, I'd get confused where the letters are because I am usually typing on a keyboard. Anyway, I can't believe how much people text. Many people have phones at they just spend an hour a day talking to their friends though the phone. Heck - people MY AGE even have phones. It'd quite weird. They don't even need them anyway until they go into secondary school. Texting is overrated.

[Werewolfy]

Texting is overrated, in my opinion. People get addicted, and do it while walking, driving, talking, and everything else, it seems. I never do it. I have no reason to. If I'm going to talk with my friends, I'd much rather do it over the phone than texting. And even then, I'd much rather talk to them in person. So much more can be said, and is so much easier to explain in person than while texting. Besides, texting costs money, unless you get unlimited minutes, which also costs money.

[linkman8]

Texting is overused, and to be honest, it's doing us more harm than good. Too many kids are entering High School and College thinking they can use texting language on their homework assignments.
In addition, it's sort of draining our youth of manners in some ways. For example, no matter what situation, no matter how formal of an occasion they find themselves in, they must whip out the cell phone to ask their friends what they're doing.
Everytime I give someone my number, I tell them, "Only text me if you just need to get me a short message that I won't necessarily need to respond to; otherwise call me."

[Josh]

I don't see texting so much as overused, as it is a problem.

And it has a lot of problems. The main ones being school. I sit through 7 hours of school for 5 days a week, and do you know how many kids I see with their hands under their desks or in their bag texting away? A lot. Too many for me to want to count. But I just go back to sleeping because I don't really care either way.

That is a problem. I honestly question everytime I see it, what could be that important that you need to do that? Why not talk about it after class?

That's the next problem. People can't have a decent conversation anymore. It's just, hi, bye, or nothing at all.

So............a problem. Yes.....

[K4KING]

Texting Is overrated only if one finds things in a loop-like effect. You see them texting over and over and it does not stop.

Here in the Philippines Texting is part of Life now. Most people loose their common Sense if they don't text at least 5 times a day.

heh

Also, Texting is draining of people with the correct Spelling of words such as

Thanks- thx
see ya- C yah
whatever- Whtevr
college- Colge

some words have been abbreviated to make some words more understandable and to make space but.... they also make people think it's the correct Spelling.

[Werewolfy]

Texting Is overrated only if one finds things in a loop-like effect. You see them texting over and over and it does not stop.

Here in the Philippines Texting is part of Life now. Most people loose their common Sense if they don't text at least 5 times a day.

heh

Also, Texting is draining of people with the correct Spelling of words such as

Thanks- thx
see ya- C yah
whatever- Whtevr
college- Colge

some words have been abbreviated to make some words more understandable and to make space but.... they also make people think it's the correct Spelling.
I've also heard people say things like "Oh em gee," "El oh el," among others. It really makes you sound stupid talking like that. It hurts my ears and brings down my IQ everytime I hear someone say these things.

They also spell things like:
You - u
Are - r
Before - B4
For - 4

I've seen these things on school papers people have turned in. Really sad. D:

[MrMosley]

I never text. Mainly because it aggravates the life outta me to see people constantly texting. Secondly, because I really have no big need for it. A phone is for talking verbally to a person. Texting is just pulling people further away from social interaction. Its causing society to hide behind a wall while they speak with others. Its weird how people will text about anything to another person, yet will only say very few things verbally, and even less things in person.

I'm not some bookworm or a guy who likes to follow every single rule in school/college or whatever, but generally you shouldn't have your cell phone out during class. And it drives me up the wall to set and see someone texting while the teacher is giving a lecture. I'm all for playing my DS or something while the teacher is chatting away, well, I used to be back in high school. But I mean my God, I'm in college, and people pay all that money for classes just to set and text their friends who apparently have nothing else to do at the time.

But from a sociology standpoint, as I said before, texting, as well as internet chat, pulls people further away from real social interaction. I'm fine with online chatting, but a phone is a phone. Its really kinda sad how people talk so much through texting but in person, will literally become a different person. It messes with people's heads a lot, at least it does mine. Say I meet a girl or something that lives near me, get her number or screenname, and she texts or messages me online. We talk for a week or so, chatting it up like we've known each other for years. Then, when we get around to going out somewhere, she doesn't hardly say two words. That drives me insane. People have so many different personalities these days when they should only have one, which should be apparent in all forms of communication, not just this one or that one.

[Smitie]

I hate texting. It takes me so much time to type something on a phone that it is more efficient to call instead of sending a text message. I forget my phone a lot though, so most of the time it is useless to call me :P.

Sadly, I see a lot of people which phone is almost glued on their hand. People text during college, people text when you are talking to them, people text when we are eating lunch. I've seen on tv that some people even text while driving O.o. I just can't understand why people feel the need to look on that stupid piece of plastic while driving putting other people in danger because they need to see if a friend said something useless.

[knowlee]

Yes, I agree that texting is overrated. For one, yes I will admit that I have texting and that I do text every now and then, but if you were to compare my texting to someone who texts every second of the day, mine would be a tiny percentage of what they send in one day.

And even when I text, I find myself not really using the "text language" that most people use. In most of my texts I tend to use proper grammar. For one, I find it to be extremely hard to decifer that language and I don't want to have to put the people that I text through that problem either. And for another thing, I find it hard to not text in proper grammar. Sure, I admit that I use the occasional "u" for "you" and other shortcuts like that if I'm in a hurry to find something out, but other than that, no, I can't bring myself to text like that a whole lot.

[Nepolink]

It is really overrated, i totally agree. And the other side i really hate texting.
I know some people who are texting just the words ''Ok'' or ''cool'', pathetic as hell. I see enough people walking with their phone on hand, driving with their phone on hand, when i was on school they were sneaky texting under their desks, i see people constantly texting in the train or other things. I never text for just a talk, i need to call someone if it's really neccesary, while my friends are texting me for a talk. The funnest thing is i never text back if they really want to talk to me call me or talk to me on MSN or other community stuff. The best way is talk to me as a real person, no other communication stuff, i prefer the stuff if someone is far awayand really wanted to talk with me. texting is really slow and it cost a lot of money. I know some people who are only working for their phone! Just stupid... Why spending a lot of money into those things while you can talk man to man?

I only text on friday, well not anymore now i lost my lovely job. I had to text my peoples week schedules. It's confusing to call 60 people for their schedules, and if they lost the times they can always look on their phone what their shifts and times are. That's the only way i like about texting, not for just a talk.
A time ago i heard something like texting is very cool and all, people are walking, sitting or whatever with their phones because they think they are really cool doing that. I don't see the ''cool'' point in texting and i shall never see. Spend your money wisely.

When i look at my phone i got messenges from people who are bored. ''I am bored'' and all that stuff. I shall never reply on something useless, if they are bored just do something instead of disturbing me with those pointless texts. No really i am not a fan of texting. texting me one question is alright but i shall never start whole talks, never.

[Dark Princess]

I actually like texting, though I hate it that people always try to text in school and while they drive. It's really stupid. It makes me want to walk up to them, take their cell phone, and snap it in half. I mean, they should know better than that. We already have enough car accidents, so come on. >_<

[Keats]

It's irritating at times, but I wouldn't call it overrated. Before my parents deactivated my phone for reasons unknown, texting was basically all I used it for. I rarely have extended conversations with people over the phone, and it seems inconvenient to call someone just to ask them a simple question.

Also, while I'm here, how fast can the rest of you text (if you do at all)? I could pump out a solid 30 or so words a minute. T9Word FTW.

[Axle the Beast]

Overrated. Annoying. Silly. Impractical. The list goes on. -.-

Oh, but an interesting note. A kid (teen, probably) got into a contest with an old guy. They were both to send a message, the kid using texting, and the old guy using Morse Code, and see who could send it faster. Guess who won? Old guy. :P

Texting isn't efficient. It only has two draws: it's cute, and it's quiet.

[Twili Kid]

I wouldnt call texting totaly impractical but it is totally overused, people MY age text and even during class, I mean seroisly if you have your phone during school you can only talk to the other people who you guessed it have there phones at school. Is it really that hard to wait and get a time to talk to them. I'd rather call the person and have a decent conversation with them on the phone and before that I would just wait and talk to them person to person. Why would a middle schooler even need a phone?
To call there parents, maybe but to use letters on a tiny keyboard to use up $0.20 to to tell there friend something along the lines of "wasap"
"not much"
and the way people text is probaly one of the weirdest poses ever. Sit down. put knee up. use both hands hold phone. put phone on knee. type, send wait put phone away you got a message repeat.

Im sorry if I kind of started ranting. My main thought is Texting=wastfull

[Qwerty0805]

While cell phones and Myspace are the two pieces of technology I don't understand, I want to clear some things up. Contrary to popular belief, using shorthand to text can actualy help with grammar and spelling, acording to several science books and magazines I've read
Think about how many times someone said video games make you dumber, when actaully the opposite is true. Its been like this with any new technology, some people thought that the invention of writing you make us dumber.

[Shnappy]

Yeah, the general society tend to overuse it. Take texting in class for example. What's the point? There's a high chance you get caught, and what are you going to say to your friend in the 20 minutes you have before the end of class or before you start some group activity? As for me, I text, sure. But it's not like I "stay up until 3 o clock in the morning texting my BFF about how my dinner was". There's just no point a lot of the time, and people's grades in school drop because of it. Texting in class and not paying attention, along with staying up texting all night then you say "there was homework"? It's not like we're going to do much to stop teens from texting too much, but that's up to their parents, how much control they want over their child's texting/phone.

[Dabombster]

While cell phones and Myspace are the two pieces of technology I don't understand, I want to clear some things up. Contrary to popular belief, using shorthand to text can actualy help with grammar and spelling, acording to several science books and magazines I've read
Think about how many times someone said video games make you dumber, when actaully the opposite is true. Its been like this with any new technology, some people thought that the invention of writing you make us dumber.

It can't help with spelling and grammar. How does the seeing/typing the sentence "r u going 2 the mall l8r" help you with grammar and spelling at all? It's annoying, not helpful.

I admit, I text. I'm not as bad as some people about it though. I have to get the unlimited plans because of it, and I barely send/receive about 1400 texts a month, usually about twice the received ones than the sent ones. I prefer texting certain people to get information that I need. I find it much easier to send one text saying something like "You up for bowling tonight?" to ten or so people, than to call each one individually. Other times I prefer to just call someone, like if I was to hang with one or two friends that evening.

I don't think texting is that big of a deal. Most people here seem to think it is because they're used to the High School/College environment, where people seem to think it's more important to talk with your friend than to pay attention to their instructor. This is the only problem I see with it. I remember there being a girl in my class last year that failed because she would always text in class. I know a few of my friends can't live without texting, and easily send/receive 1000+ texts a day. That is when you know you have an addiction.

[Y2K3]

I hate texting. I'm not even supposed to do it since it costs extra money, but I will the odd time if it's to someone that never answers their phone. I also never use the shorthand (except with an apostrophe. I don't know how to type those) since it irritates me to no end.
I'd much rather talk to them over the phone. It's just much more convenient. Although, I'd much rather just talk to them in person if I could. :P

[Master Kokiri 9]

Well I really don't know from experience if texting is overrated because I have never owned a cell phone especially not one with texting capabilities. But my mom has a texting cell phone (and no she's not 16 she's 40) but she never uses it. The only time she uses it is when her minutes are low or if she's responding to a text. But I think the reason people text deformed words and acronyms is because some cell phone plans have a limit or cost on how many characters you can put in a texgt but I'm not very sure about that. But if not because of that probably because it's quicker to put in something like thx rather than thanks.

[PixelSmile]

Texting can be annoying when your trying to explain something long, But i wouldn't call it overrated. I only use my phone for texting, With my phone its easy to text, it a qwerty keyboard :) so quick and easy.
I use about 2000-3000 texts a month..

[pahurtgen]

Texts should only be for practical use, really. Too many people have strayed from texting's task-oriented origins just because they were "bored," which, in English, means: "I don't have a life." So yeah, I'd say so.

[Justin]

It's funny you mention that. I'm not a genius in anthropology, but I've had some experience. When I worked for a web host company and it had a phone support. Most people went through chat and email. Also, going to walmart, the self-service lines seem to be more popular. It seems that people rather communicate without oral communications. Sort of explains why public speaking is one of the greatest fears. I'll admit I use to text all the time, but recently, I haven't had the need. The times I do text, is when I leave a message to a friend in class, or is busy.

[TheSerpent]

Lol, you should listen to my younger sister. "you're SUPPOSED to spell things wrong!"

[Bigelover88]

I so HATE texting. My phone has a lot of possibilities but I never use any of them besidesb the camera function. It is overrated and annoying. I understand in time of need it is very useful but if I could rip it off my phone I would.

[Mandi]

But from a sociology standpoint, as I said before, texting, as well as internet chat, pulls people further away from real social interaction. I'm fine with online chatting, but a phone is a phone. Its really kinda sad how people talk so much through texting but in person, will literally become a different person.

I also dislike texting. I don't have an issue with online chatting, but texting is just annoying, aggravating, ect. People are also getting cell phones way too young. I have two nieces that have had a cell phone since they were 5 >.<

The idiotic IM and texting lingo is also overrated. I refuse to use it. :P

Texting has it's uses, but in today's society it is very much overused.

[Claire]

I have mixed feelings on the idea of texting. While it can be convenient to relay a quick message to someone, to have entire conversations through texting is quite unnecessary. My mother recently bought a cellular phone designed for easier texting. She is one of those persons who will have an entire conversation via text; she gets lost in her texting (which can be dangerous when texting and driving). It has essentially become trendy to be a "text-a-holic." It may seem safe or even appear less disrespectful when, like Michelle mentioned, interacting with a salesperson. However, it can be unsafe if you decide to text at poor times (like driving) or disrespectful when someone is trying to speak to you or serve you. Now, concerning whether or not this modern style of shorthand is beneficial to educating is highly unlikely.

How does using this type of shorthand improve grammar or spelling? If one grows up learning more shorthand than they learn about English grammar and spelling, then chances are they will have learned through incorrect usage and making their abilities flawed compared to one who did not learn shorthand before learning proper grammar, spelling, and usage. I've seen it first hand from persons who learned shorthand and using it frequently and have a difficult time spelling words correctly; to be oblivious to this prior only encourages poor use of grammar, spelling, and usage.

[athenian200]

I don't think people use it because of the hype, they use it because they like it. So I don't know if you could say it's overrated.

I do dislike a few things about it, though. It seems to encourage people to spell words incorrectly and use poor grammar. I think the phone companies made a horrible move in charging by the character and only allowing short messages. I hope that soon, the phone gets some kind of autocomplete feature and/or default messages that eliminate the need for that grammar-crippling shorthand.

Basically, it has a lot of advantages for people who have several friends and a busy schedule, and for that reason I don't think we're going to see it go away. All we can do now is find a way to make it better and address the remaining disadvantages in other ways. Maybe they could put some kind of signal blocking device in schools that prevent cell phones from getting any kind of signal in there, for instance? Or at least a signal detection device that results in security guards being dispatched every time one is used to check if there was an emergency (along with a rule that emergencies are the only appropriate use for them).

[Atsuma]

Texting: a way of keeping in touch with your friends and loved ones. Hm, sounds interesting but I have never done it, and I did have a phone back then. I dunno, I just thought that texting was leaning more toward the girl side, you know, it fits them more since they always seem to be gossiping about stuff. My nieces and sister for example...geez, almost all day texting each other. But that is good, at least it keeps my sister from hogging the pc, which she rarely uses anyway. XD

So I don't know if texting is overated because it could also be used in an emergency. Anyway, I am not to be texting anytime soon.