The Text Epidemic

Question: Do you ever find yourself engaged in a dramatic text conversation with a friend or family member? Do you use text messaging to communicate with that new fling you’re enthralled with? Do you find yourself re-telling an intense conversation you had through text while mimicking texting with your thumbs? Or worst of all, have you ever used the text message device in your phone to verbally abuse a friend or enemy, and thus involve yourself in a "text war"? Don’t be alarmed; although each of the previous examples are rather petty and frivolous, you are simply just another victim of the text epidemic.

It’s a revolution that is vastly taking over communication as we know it. What began as a casual form of lazy banter has become, for many people, the primary source of contact with friends, family and co-workers alike. No longer is texting simply a way for friends to find out what their social colleague’s plans for the evening are with the use of cute text slang such as "OMG", "TTYL", and "NIMBY" - slang for "Not In My Back Yard" - we used to always use it back in the day. Today, the text option in cell phones has become an advertisement tool, a business commodity, a breakup platform, a flirting device and a great way to kill boredom.

The normalcy of text conversation is going way too far, and it frightens me to think of how much worse it's going to get as the current generation of youth grows into adulthood. Landlines are quickly becoming a thing of the past. How much longer before the call feature becomes completely obsolete? Before we know it we may be limited to human contact and text interaction, with no ground in between.

Now with the new law requiring a hands-free device while driving it’s getting worse than ever. I now must plan ahead when making the archaic phone call just to be sure I won’t end up in my car at any time during the conversation, and thus avoid becoming what would undoubtedly be an uncontrollable hazard to all other motorists on the road.

Texting does have its benefits; it is much easier to get a text message sent in areas of poor reception than trying to piece together a broken conversation. This is important if you have a phone like mine which is unable to receive more than a single bar 85 percent of the time.

However, texting is spinning out of control; the use of it has reached a popularity that is nothing short of ridiculous. It has gotten to the point where I’m now hearing newscasters refer to important conversations that were held through text. I recall hearing a few months ago that Brett Favre had contacted Green Bay Packer General Manager Ted Thompson through text, in hopes of returning to the football team he’d retired from a few months earlier. I can only imagine the context of that message.

“Yo T-Slice, whatup? So I’m dWn 2 come play 4 U dis season, 4get the retirement thing, I was bein WhACk. Lemme noe whatchu think about dat. Hit me back, we should get 2gether & kick it sumtime. 1ove.

-B*F4vre"

We as a society need to grab a hold of this epidemic and control it before it gets completely out of hand. As convenient as it may be, texting is completely impersonal and lifeless. It doesn’t have the personality and character your voice does. How many times have you found an angry recipient on the other end of your previous text because your witty sarcasm was undetectable and flew over their head like a 747?

Only we can stop this from taking over communication as we know it.

So the next time your going to holler at your peeps, or your significant other or even the parentals, put away the Sidekick and dial their digits. I bet they’ll be thrilled to hear your voice again.