thoughts on texting

As of now, I don't text. This is careful thinking - I rarely use my phone as a phone, mostly for email/Facebook, and to be available if the school needs to call me. The person I get the most phone calls from? The superintendent's Alert Now system, and I'd rather that didn't come via text - a text doesn't wake me up at 6 AM to tell me to turn off my alarm clock. (Now, if the phone call could somehow automatically turn off my alarm clock without my having to wake up, that would be something ....)

But in general, I find texting to be much like online chatting - too immediate, and thus too stressful. Talking with people is difficult enough for me, but having to conduct a conversation in real time online is even more so. Emails can be carefully crafted, gone over, and reviewed before sending (which is why I tend to be more comfortable and a better conversationalist online), but there's no time for that in a text. And I'm pedantic enough to feel a real distaste at the idea of using textspeak.

And of course, there's the famed AutoCorrect, which would drive me nuts. I get that people don't think they can use language without an electronic corrector, and I also get that people would rather be able to blame their mistakes on AutoCorrect than having to admit they can't spell whatever word they would misspell, but I couldn't take having an automatic 'corrector' that screws up my words.

I know my text-free life is coming to an end - sometime in the next three years the kids will start getting cell phones, and hello, texting. But for now, I can do without.