What's with the obsession of texting?

[TheVrolok]

I do it for quick questions I may have that wouldn't require more than a 30-40 second phone call. Or when I'm in a situation where using the phone isn't an option.

 

[Deeko]

I dunno. I personally think it's kind of weird to imagine myself texting my buddies constantly during a football game.

A) Its not constant, its when something worth discussing happens
B) If your friends you watched football with all moved to different parts of the country, whats wrong with still wanting to discuss the game with them?

Its ok, this is Anandtech, where everyone is either A) too old to keep up with these things or B) too "nerd cool" to actually do something the general public does. Kinda like how so many people here hate Facebook.

So I wouldn't really expect any other reaction towards text messaging.

 

[AVAFREAK182]

A) Its not constant, its when something worth discussing happens
B) If your friends you watched football with all moved to different parts of the country, whats wrong with still wanting to discuss the game with them?

Its ok, this is Anandtech, where everyone is either A) too old to keep up with these things or B) too "nerd cool" to actually do something the general public does. Kinda like how so many people here hate Facebook.

So I wouldn't really expect any other reaction towards text messaging.

You said it best.

I text because I have friends. I text to make plans and things like that.

Texting doesn't make you socially inept, more of the opposite in fact.

 

[gramboh]

I use a combination of texts and calls. Whatever works best for the moment. I probably average about 5,500 (last bill) texts a month and it used to be 7,000 minutes a month. Now I use Skype as much as possible, so its down to about 400

Dude... 7000 minutes a month? That's 116 hours, almost 5 DAYS. How do you get anything at school/work done? That is obscene. In my iPhone's life (since July 08) I only have about 90 hours of talk time in it.

 

[MotF Bane]

I absolutely hate talking on phones. If I can avoid it, I will. Maybe a phone molested me when I was really young, who knows.

 

[Suspicious-Teach8788]

A) Its not constant, its when something worth discussing happens
B) If your friends you watched football with all moved to different parts of the country, whats wrong with still wanting to discuss the game with them?

Its ok, this is Anandtech, where everyone is either A) too old to keep up with these things or B) too "nerd cool" to actually do something the general public does. Kinda like how so many people here hate Facebook.

So I wouldn't really expect any other reaction towards text messaging.

I understand what you're talking about. I'm all for that kind of text messaging. I guess not everyone on ATOT is.

I just have a gripe with people texting me for something that should be done with a quick phone call. When you're with a group of friends and you split up, there's no need to NOT call. It's not like people can't answer their phones. And if they can't, they'll text back. If I'm in a meeting, I text back after I "miss" their call.

 

[Nik]

I won't carry a conversation via text message, but most of my phone calls are unnecessarily long for my taste. Say what you need to say and hang up the damn phone. No, I don't care how hot you are, I used to work in a call center, I do NOT like being on the phone. To hell with what you did today, I couldn't possibly care less anyway. My skype away message is usually "watching TV / playing games. Text my cell to get my attention"

 

[fantolay]

I agree some people txt way too much. I was chatting with a guy at work who was complaining because the txt plan he is on offers "unlimited" txts, but there is actually a hidden limit at 500. I asked him why the fuck anyone would need more than 500 txts in a month. His response? He sends over 2,000. How the fuck does anyone even have time to send 2,000 txts a month? Nuts.

Usually young people with lots of friends... or lots of "text" friends at any rate.

I mean also I'm sure most of you can imagine teenage girls using 5k texts a month... easily.

Hopefully that generation doesn't continue to text as they get older and it is just a phase.

 

[F1N3ST]

I used 11000 texts last month D:

 

[joesmoke]

I used 11000 texts last month D:

sounds like... an addiction :awe:

 

[ShawnD1]

sounds like... an addiction :awe:

Sounds like unemployment.

 

[F1N3ST]

sounds like... an addiction :awe:

Nope, lol.

 

[Suspicious-Teach8788]

Usually young people with lots of friends... or lots of "text" friends at any rate.

I mean also I'm sure most of you can imagine teenage girls using 5k texts a month... easily.

Hopefully that generation doesn't continue to text as they get older and it is just a phase.

well it's clearly because some people text excessively. I think 500 is a fair amount to go through. I can break 200 easily sometimes but you really have to do a lot of conversations. if you use it for productivity where you sparingly use it, then that's fine.

phones like the iPhone and other Android phones make it way to easy to just hold a conversation especially when the screen looks just like an IM screen. I think people forget. Maybe they should remember the iPhone does push notifications now and they should just stick to IM and save their texts.

 

[TubeTote]

I hated texting passionately when it came out. I always saw it as something people with too much time on their hands are into...especially those f***s who try to have a conversation that way. What a waste of f***ing time.

Since I got my Blackberry, I have found it to be a bit more practical, but it is probably my least favorite form of communication. As stated by the OP, there are times when it simply makes sense, and I have no problem with that. But when people text me and try to have a conversation, I want to reach through the phone and choke them.

Bottom line, I'm a busy person. If you have something more complicated to say than a one liner, then just f***ing call me for the love of God.

I have even had people get pissed off at me and diss me because I won't play their dumbass texting game...stupid assholes.

 

[thecoolnessrune]

Dude... 7000 minutes a month? That's 116 hours, almost 5 DAYS. How do you get anything at school/work done? That is obscene. In my iPhone's life (since July 08) I only have about 90 hours of talk time in it.

LDR. If you have an SO, extrapolate how much time you spend with her. I try to manage the same as much as doable. With a 10 free numbers on my end, and free incoming calls on her end, no reason not to.

 

[coloumb]

Because you can't speek l33t r u thar speek... and probably because quite a few spend 99% of their day tweeting, facebooking, etc via mobile phone.

 

[Razgriz]

I got a texting plan 6 months ago and use it some but not that much. I prefer calling to text when coordinating with people/making plans/long conversations. Texting does have its place though.

 

[sandorski]

Back in the old days we just looked around aimlessly not knowing where the fuck anyone was...and WE LIKED IT THAT WAY!!!!!!!!!!

 

[maziwanka]

anyone who sends more than 1000 texts a month should get punched in the face. fucking ridiculous

 

[xanis]

Texting is ruining the youth of the world. My mom is a teacher and she's told me quite a few horror stories about students that use text/IM/internet acronyms and spellings in their papers and homework assignments.

That being said, I do it quite a lot. I can't really pinpoint the appeal, but I find myself doing it probably way more than I should.

 

[sandorski]

anyone who sends more than 1000 texts a month should get punched in the face. fucking ridiculous

hehe, a good friend told me how many Texts he had sent/received in a month(300 something) and I was all "WTF?". That kind of constant contact would turn me homicidal.

Still don't have a Cell Phone and have 0 desire to ever be tethered to such a thing.

 

[maziwanka]

What's your latest obsession?
Hank Moody: Just the fact that people seem to be getting dumber and dumber. You know, I mean we have all this amazing technology and yet computers have turned into basically four figure wank machines. The internet was supposed to set us free, democratize us, but all it's really given us is Howard Dean's aborted candidacy and 24 hour a day access to kiddie porn. People... they don't write anymore, they blog. Instead of talking, they text, no punctuation, no grammar: LOL this and LMFAO that. You know, it just seems to me it's just a bunch of stupid people pseudo-communicating with a bunch of other stupid people at a proto-language that resembles more what cavemen used to speak than the King's English.

 

[dbk]

I only call my parents... everybody else I text... IDK MY BFF JILLL?

 

[Corporate Thug]

there are two situations where I would text:

1. I know a call would interrupt something important (like a date or a meeting) and
2. When I want to get across a small piece of info but I don't necessarily have the time to talk at the moment (i.e. "are we still on for 7 pm).

 

[GodlessAstronomer]

Its ok, this is Anandtech, where everyone is either A) too old to keep up with these things or B) too "nerd cool" to actually do something the general public does. Kinda like how so many people here hate Facebook.

This times eleventy quadrillion.