Is Texting Overrated?

[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.

 

[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.

 

[Austin]

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!"

 

[Vanessa28]

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.

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).

 

[*M i d n a*]

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.