I hope to never text again. I tried it briefly and it didn’t stick. My fingers are too fat. Genetically, I’m much better with an old-fashioned dial, corded telephone. The free app I downloaded to text with on my iPod touch even dropped me. It told me I didn’t text enough so I could no longer have it. Being rejected by a free app is never good.
Call Me
A local grocery store asked me to attend one of their press events recently. When the organizer of the event looked at my business card, he said, “OK, I’ll text you to confirm the details.” After I explained that the phone number on my card was my home phone number and the only number I use, he got a glazed over look in his eyes. “You don’t text?” was all he mumbled. I never heard back from him. It seems that I didn’t get the information on the event because I don’t text.
Is this what we’ve come to? Those who text and those who don’t? What if I like talking on the phone better? But, please don’t call me on my cell phone either. (I only have it in case my 19-year-old Subaru stops working.) My cell phone is rarely turned on and when it is , and someone calls me, it’s the wrong number.
Texting Teen
One of our teens texts (it’s not a cell phone). He had to be a certain age to do so and then he had to sign a contract with us before we agreed to him texting. Part of the contract is that he has to set aside 20 minutes each week to sit down and talk with us. Uninterrupted, set the timer, no distractions he has to tell us what is going on in his life. Some of these “20 minutes” are better than others mostly because it takes 20 minutes for a teenage boy to warm up and get ready to talk to his parents. He doesn’t want to text with his mom either. He says it’s weird. He’s also required to make several phone calls each week as part of the contract. Phone manners are still important for kids to learn, even in our texting world.
Using Twitter is hard enough for me. The pressure to shorten your tweet to 140 characters or less is bad. Twitter has me shortening words, leaving out punctuation, and using the characters “/” the slash and the “#” left and right. I cringe every time it happens and I’m the one doing it.
So, please call me. On my old corded home phone number that will forever remain a land-line. I promise to call you back but please don’t make me text.
Are you a texter? Does it agree with your thumbs? Do I need to get with the program?
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I’ve never even attempted a text, and don’t plan to anytime soon. I had texting disabled on my cell so I don’t have to pay for unsolicited incoming texts from unknown parties. It’s amazing how many of my friends have asked, “Did you get my text?” I can’t believe there is not a function to tell them that their text did not go through!
I *do* forward our home phone number to my cell so I don’t miss home phone calls when I’m out. That’s about as savvy as I get.
(I didn’t even know you could use Twitter if you didn’t text. Shows how much I know!)
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Hey Liana…I did the same thing on my cell phone – disabled the texting but for me it was because Trac Phone kept trying to sell me more minutes! You can Tweet from a lot of different platforms on your computer. Or from an iPod touch…
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I do text – it takes me quite a while on my phone, and I’m not very good at it, but there are times when I need to get info to one of my bosses very quickly, and I know they are in a meeting, I’ll send them a text from my phone, instead of emailing them. All three of us have cell phones, and when we signed up with our carrier, I made certain we got a plan that had unlimited text messaging. I used to work in a call center (shudder) for the phone company, and it was amazing the charges that could be racked up when a teen went over their minutes. And, a word of warning to all. Telephone numbers can be deceiving. Canadian telephone numbers have area codes, and then seven digits, just like ours do. So do some areas in Mexico – particularly those close to the US border. BUT if you or your teen sends text messages to those numbers, they are an international call, and you will be billed international rates for those texts. Not sure if this affects you or not? Call your carrier. Had a co-worker get surprised with a $4,000 cell phone bill – her daughter was texting someone in Canada, with a Canadian phone number. It was not fun.
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Gulp! A $4,000 cell phone bill? That’s another reason I’m not paying for cell phones for kids – I would not want that sort of bill! Braces are bad enough!! Thanks for the tips, Cathy!
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Initially, I was very slow at texting–in fact, if one of my kids texted me a question, I often just called them back, because my texting was so slow. Of course, they laughed at me–in the most loving of ways. However, when our son went away to college in California 5 years ago, I had to speed it up–that was our major means of communication with him. So, perhaps in the years leading up to your kids going off to college, you can practice…or by then, we’ll just think our messages to others, and they will receive it!
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“in the most loving of ways.” Yes, I’m familiar with that laughing! I can see how when kids are in college texting might come in handy but you’re right – in a few years, who knows what the technology will be. Thanks Patty!
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I text, and have gotten pretty proficient at it. We recently switched to an unlimited texting plan, which will come in handy when the oldest is in college (gasp) next year. It is his preferred way of communicating with parents and friends alike. Useful if the kids need to know something right when they get out of school…I send the text earlier, and they are now trained to turn on the phone after school to check for texts or calls from us. Also handy when I want to send (or receive) a non-urgent message when hubby is stuck in a meeting. I rarely, however, use text-speak: I write texts with correct spelling, punctuation, and usually complete sentences. U r nvr going 2 c a txt like ths frm me!
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Aha! Texting the hubby…well, my hubby’s desk is right next to mine these days and he doesn’t have a cell phone either. He’s lower on the technology evolution ladder than I am! I do like that you use complete sentences, Leslie. Well done!
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I don’t. Really didn’t see a need, although I do feel like I am being left behind. Sort of like when computers came in. Only got them because I thought my kids needed them. I am very conflicted about this part. Don’t even like my cell phone much. But as I said, does that make me a dinosaur with extinction on the horizon?
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I hear ya! Sometimes I think we’re raising baby dinosaurs, too. There is something to old fashioned ways.
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Sara, there is a little bit of Luddite in each of us. For you – blogger, tweeter, social media expert – it is interesting to see one area of the electronic age that you have not embraced! Personally, I text more that I talk and prefer it in most situations, because I can access the information on my terms/timing, rather than answering a call at an inconvenient time, or having to stop and write down information from a phone message. It provides the luxury of time.
I find that a cell phone plan with texting is a wonderful way to communicate with my teen and useful in teaching budgeting/spending/frugality/responsibility. With plans the way they are now (and ever changing), you may be able to get everyone in your family a cell phone plan with texting for the same cost as your land line. That is the fun thing about frugality – what WAS frugal may not always be frugal! I love your contract terms – such a great idea!
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I know – it is crazy that I’ve gotten on board with the social media but I still feel like a dinosaur! You are absolutely correct that it might be less cost money-wise for a cell phone plan for our family but I’m not ready to go down that path – yet. Plus, we have a really good phone number and I’d never want to get rid of it. 🙂 Thanks Michelle!!
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Hi Sara! Thanks for covering this topic. We just had a technology/cyber bullying forum at our high school and I have to say that it was a little alarming to see the divide between adults who resist technology and their children who have fully embraced it. Communication is not static which is both the exciting and overwhelming thing about it. When you describe the situation where a grocer didn’t contact you because you don’t text, I am wondering if that is a good thing? You lost a chance to make connections and further your cause. I know that we all have to pick and choose where we spend our energy but saying you just won’t text seems to be going against what your messaging is all about. We need to keep our minds open and expansive and look at things in different lights. Your blog interests me because you are constantly looking at ways to reinvent the usefulness of items and ideas that see old or past their expiration date. So to hear you wholly denounce an efficient and effective way to communicate is surprising to me. If you are going to bother to have a cell phone, you might as well max out its capability. Then you really are getting true bang for your buck. ox
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Hi Kate! I’m not against technology I just think (like anything) it can be over used and everything in moderation, including frugality. For me, I like not being available or connected all the time. This helps me be present, not distracted, and connected in person. Thanks for leaving a comment!!
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I never “text”. My husband is a contractor who has had a cell phone for 17 years and says he will throw it as far as it will fly as soon as he retires. His service provider sent us a second phone to use with his contract, probably in hopes that we would go over the contracted minutes and upgrade the contract. Good luck to them with that. We have had the second phone for three years and charged it twice. We have two teenagers who take it when they go out, in case of personal emergency. We got two text messages, “dude” and “who r u?” from people we don’t know before we disabled that feature. We have actual, live conversations with our kids, frequently initiated by them and we never pay for the privilege or prearrange a contract with specified time allotments. I truly think talking and listening to our kids is the part that makes our family comparative dinosaurs.
We have a land line, and once in a while we get a call from a machine that starts to recite a text message that someone who (obviously) does not know us, has sent. I don’t listen to machines that phone me either…. We have call display and only answer calls from numbers we recognize. I spend one day every few months answering all the calls, interrupting all the telemarketers and telling them to take the number off their call list. That buys some peace for a few weeks. I have been on the do-not-call list for years.
I can put pen to paper and write ten pages that people keep and re-read for years. They have showed me. Texting? “Text” is not a verb. The messages are utterly disposable. That makes it unimportant to me. “Totally”.
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Hey Karen…that do not call list is a mystery to me! We’re on it (supposedly) but we seem to get lots of calls as well. I like your attitude about talking with your kids and you’re right text is not a verb and neither is tweet! Thanks for your perspective.
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I only recently began texting as it is either that or not hearing from certain people (it is strange to me that texters don’t receive a message saying their text didn’t go through as well, Liana). After years of having just a cell phone, we are back to having a land line, which is so much more comfortable to me. Some days I want to ditch all of this technology and feel like a human being again. Other days I think all of this social media stuff is just great. Hmmm.
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Valynne! Luckily, we don’t have to choose one or the other. I’ve definitely embraced the social media angle for my business but am in the dark ages with it personally. It feels right – for now. I am willing to evolve as my teens do. Thanks for leaving a comment.
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I text. Absolutely. And happily. Something I often hear is that texting is so impersonal, that people use it as a way of avoiding contact. My experience is the exact opposite. One of my favorite texts to receive is from my teenaged great-niece asking me if I’m busy on Friday night. That means she wants to make a date, have dinner, spend a few hours together, talk. Because of our schedules, setting this up via texting is much easier than doing it on the phone.
I text my husband if I need anything from the store. We live in the mountains, 30 minutes away from ‘civilization,’ and instead of me making a trip, he can stop on his way home from work. Sometimes we text each other love notes during the day.
My niece texts us updates on the girls’ soccer schedules, and we let her know if we’ll be there.
As for texting English, or spelling, at first I was appalled. I’m 62 and love language and words and could *not* bring myself to use any of the abbreviations I was learning, mostly on Facebook. I wrote in complete sentences, spelling out every word, spelling them correctly.
Well, lemme tell ya, that got real old, real quick. I realized these were texts, not English compositions, and the idea was prompt communication, not stuffy stick-in-the-mud-itis. So I got over myself and can now abbreviate and slang with the best of ’em. Much funner, as my young great-niece says.
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Lynda, great attitude! I love the connection with your great niece and your communication style. Thanks for sharing your perspective!
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Hi, I’m back! Got a text tonight from my great-niece. It’s a photo of a coupon she got for a pint of ice cream, A Pint for a Pint, because she’s become a regular blood donator. I’m so proud of that girl!
Just wanted to brag a bit, and make a comment about what neat things teens are doing. 🙂
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Sara – I think you are right, texting can get in the way! Your post inspired me to post my “Text Fight” story. It is so stupid the way we let technology make us less brave, but knowing that texting makes it easier for my kids to communicate with me or even say “hey mom – call me and make me come home from this party”, I guess I have to buy in a little bit. There is a time and place for everything – and I think balance is the key to most things.
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Annie! I just read your post here text fight and it has a super sweet ending! Yes, balance and remembering that plenty perfect is good enough. Thank you!
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