Is texting just paging gone wild?

"In voluntary cooperation with the powers that be, we interrupt this previously scheduled program to conduct a text.  For the next 60 seconds you will be tortured mercilessly as you try to respond to this text even though this is only a text.  If this had been an actual message you would have been instructed to answer your phone and actually talk to a living breathing person."

I remember in the early days of the modern communications explosion---back when pagers were at the forefront of staying in touch.  Of course then along came cell phones and pagers became, for the most part, a thing of the past---a relic with corroding batteries to collect dust on a shelf.

I remember my pager with fondness and how we all had special codes that one could send to indicate the level of importance in finding a phone to see what the caller wanted.  Of course 911 meant: "get your ass home immediately"---without even taking the time to find a phone.

With cell phones came the ability to text---we can now send less cryptic messages.  These "messages" however have devolved into actually even more cryptic messages.  A whole new language has been developed and is continuing to devolve as time goes by.

While I can appreciate the advantages of texting in a few very isolated instances, I think for the most part a text message is basically saying:  "I have something to tell you but I am not really interested in actually talking to you."  

Now this type of message may be valid when the sender of the text knows the recipient is in a private meeting or in a really noisy environment or having sex---but what percentage of the time is the receiver of a text message actually going to be in such predicaments?  And why do they know all the intimate details of my life?---oh yes----Facebook---I forgot.

Also with the phone on vibrate the sender could just as easily leave a voice message that the receiver could then listen to at his or her leisure.  I mean who really wants to find out that they are late for an important meeting while they are wrestling the beast with two backs?  Not to mention the rudeness of checking the dang thing when supposedly focused elsewhere.

While I would not consider myself technologically illiterate, I do think that using texting as a "primary" MEANS of COMMUNICATION is a bad idea.  I am quite sure that in the time it takes to send a text,and reply to a text, the same information (and a good deal more) could have been better conveyed by actually talking to the person.  

Aside from the "time" issues, the nuances of the messages behind the words is totally lost with a text message, opening the door to miscommunication.  Also with a blue tooth I can be doing other things besides punching keys with my thumbs.  

Most people don't realize just how difficult "real" communication is.  

As soon as we move away from face-to-face, eye-to-eye communication the risk goes up.  

We live our lives as if communication is a "given."  We forget (or never knew in the first place) that communication requires "focus," it demands our "presence," and it demands that we fully "be there," and not just one person---BOTH parties.  Anything we put in the way of real communication can actually be a form of  "screw you" when real communication is important.

Doing important business via texting would seem very risky in fostering an environment where communication can happen.  It would seem to make the most sense to save texting for when you have something to say that is not important---when all you are doing is imparting "information" and not interested in "communication."  

Beware though, the receiver may be looking for communication.

I routinely get these long winded text messages that require an equally long response to answer them properly.  Of course the message is full of grammar errors and looks like it was composed in Dragon Speaking Unnaturally.  I had an epiphany one day and came up with a simple solution to this dilemma.  The simple answer is to reply with a simple text message (that requires no special characters, punctuation, or smiley faces) that simply says: "call me."  

Works like a charm.

Charles Buell, Seattle Home Inspector