Seriously.

I do not, cannot, understand for the life of me, how the generation below me (and older hipsters) decided that typing on a PHONE of all places would be the norm.


I mean, has our society become so watered down and un personal that we have to send typed messages back and forth instead of hearing the other person talk?

I have a few theories.

First of all, I think that it is for insecure people (I.E. EVERY TEEN EVER) because texting in between responses gives you time to think about what you are typing, so it minimizes the risk of saying something dumb.

Secondly, I think it is for insecure people walking around alone so that they have something to do instead of making EYE CONTACT WITH ANY STRANGERS.

I am just completely baffled by humanity that we are holding a phone, where any number is literally two buttons away, O, you could even use voice recognition, and instead, we are essentially IMing back and forth.

I feel like an old man for saying this but I mean, I just don't understand. Why buy a phone in the first place?

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HANNAH MONTANA!!!!!!!!!
TAKING THE WORLD BY STORM!!!!!
"I'm living proof....THAT GIRLS CAN ROCK!!!!!!"

Oh boy, what an iceberg. I faced this battle with choosing a device. I wanted a telephone not a QWERTY micro computer. Anyway, my man sized fingers are too big for comfort on those goofy QWERTY machines. I'll be home for the internet and QWERTY on my laptop real soon everyday that I don't need it squeezed into a 2.5 inch screen. Maybe a teenage emo boy with a squeaky voice may not be up there yet in maturity and thus could use such a device with his little fingers. I've therefore gone with a slider or regular phone as my device of choice. Motorola's got a metal, slick slender look so I've continued to go with them. Samsung would be my second choice but they have that real plastic look. When I was just recently messaging I wondered why I didn't call and then I saw the other side of it as well: Why did I call when I could message? It's a battle of when I have what available in message and minutes.

This one girl I saw at work was into messaging all the time. I thought she was empty of personality all the time because of it. She did look pretty though and worth some of my time. Perception of her was not that great.

I like all the universal words for the type of phone like "mobile, messaging." I don't care to say the Americanized version. I won't stretch myself to say "SMS" like my cousins in Poland.

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Thrillnetwork Moderator - Sophomore Original sn: CHILLERLC1
2008 & 2009 TN Coaster Draft Champion
You knew I wanted the other repeat too

Slippy, there is a huge running joke amongst my friends about texting. My response is always I. Do. Not. Text.

My main reason is that it makes zero sense to me. I have a freakin' phone in my hand, why not just call the person? It is easier and more personal. The lame response I always get back is "What if the person is unable to take your call at that time?" The answer to that is pretty easy- I dare you to find ONE person who has texting ability, but not voice mail. I see texting as rather pointless.

Except for one time. I texted someone with no reservations whatsoever. A friend lost power in Hurricane Ike, and had a technical question to help out with his dealing with being without electricity. Because of either heavy traffic on the lines, or damage to the cell towers near him, we couldn't keep a call connected. He texted me his question, and I sent him the answer in a text.

Funnily, my wife saw me doing it and asked me what I was doing. When I told her I was texting, she announced that the world was coming to an end.

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ThrillNetwork Lead Moderator
My neighbor got a big new house, and all I got was his lousy payments

I thought about the GPS capabilities coming to the small devices and people's heads caught in them, the Crackberries. Maybe they'll continue to keep their heads only in them to walk into a real life busy intersection and then real life will just commence on them - Boom! Nice job GPS. Not a real proper thought for me on Christmas but I felt that in the past. Is it the next internet porn addiction?

I hate the everchanging sizes of the USB cables. I thought I just came to one universal one to just get a smaller one.

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Thrillnetwork Moderator - Sophomore Original sn: CHILLERLC1
2008 & 2009 TN Coaster Draft Champion
You knew I wanted the other repeat too

Wow, Leo- welcome to Lumpofcoalville. Population: you.

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ThrillNetwork Lead Moderator
My neighbor got a big new house, and all I got was his lousy payments

I do both voice and text with my phone, and I have found that text messaging can be very effective and more convenient in communicating. You only get so much time to leave a voice message and many times the recipient may not clearly understand the voice message, because A) You're talking too fast or not clearly enough, and B) In a noisy/crowded setting your voice may get mixed in by all the background noise, which may be unclearly heard by the recipient. And that is where text messages come in handy by sending your message in writing so it becomes very clear to the recipient, and you can take as much time as you need to compose the text message. There is a size/length limit of course of the message, but you won't have to worry about the time limit.

To those of you that choose not to send texts at all, that is perfectly fine; you don't have to do it if it doesn't suit you, and no one is forcing you to do it, but all I ask is that you ease up on criticizing those of us that do enjoy texting. You may find it pointless, and I understand where you are coming from, but I have my opinion supporting text messages and I will continue to do send text messages.


And yet he has broken through and actually sent me a text and even said he did it on TN. So those of you who say you'll never do it, never say never because Brian is proof that it can happen to anyone at anytime, especially in dire situations when that is the only way of communicating. Such was the case in the aftermath, Hurricane Ike caused my Sprint service (along with my power) to go out for days....I could not call anyone nor could anyone reach me without the call getting immediately dropped, so all I could possibly do in that time period was send text messages (that was my only means of communication) to my friends and family (and even back and forth with Brian) and those went through and came through perfectly fine, so hence another situation where texting came in handy. Don't underestimate the convenience and usefulness of texting.

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ThrillNetwork Lead Moderator (Originally known as Hurricane)

It's time to play some DEFENSE!

I text more than I talk. Why?
1. I don't like to have long conversations. Texting allows me to say my one point, or state some random observation, without needing to start a conversation- especially when the only response may be a laugh, followed by "Ok, bye!"
2. People (at least those who I talk to) have a habit of not listening to the voicemail before returning their missed call
3. There's not really a 3, but a list with only two numbers looks dumb.

When I do call, it's to catch up with people I haven't seen in a while, such as when I'm wishing a Happy Birthday to old friends, or my distant WDW College Program friends. A Happy Birthday text doesn't cut it there. Other than that, I'm calling because a conversation is necessary.

In the end, to each their own. I pretty much boil down to a "situation appropriate" type of person. I don't understand people who may as well have a 2 way pager with no voice capabilities, but that's how they are. If you want to talk for everything, do you!

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Texting for me is a waste of time...the opinion of they might not understand your message is moot as I know of no phones that do not have caller ID. I can call my wife and leave here a message that I love here quicker than I can type it on my phone and she will probably get it quicker...I sent here a couple of pics the other day and she got them 24 hours later...They only problem I have with the whole texting thing is though, and this even go to using the phone itself, is when you have your head burried in it and are not paying attention to your surrounds( like when driving)...

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Life is a journey....enjoy the ride....

That is the only time I have a problem with it also, since it does cause so many accidents. Which is probably one of the main reasons New Jersey and New York made it illegal to talk to text while driving if its not a hand-free device. If your caught the minimum fine is $100.

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I don't even use a short hand when I create messages. I use T9 and spell out most words as if I'm here. Half the time I'll put the punctuation marks in. I find myself wondering if people get my point of view in the a message. It's a highly condensed internet message. I hate people that respond with just "Ok" or "Yea." "Lol right" is about the minimum I like.

Unfortunately at rush hour 2 weeks ago a 4 year old was just killed crossing the most busy intersection in my town with his uncle. The driver was driving a diesel work truck and using a mobile device at the same time. Both parties didn't deserve to be in that place at that time. No 4 year should be crossing without firmly gripping an adult's hand at such a crazy intersection. Rush hour at 5:15 in the dark is not a place to have a kid there. Really the town wishes the kid had a ride home.

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Thrillnetwork Moderator - Sophomore Original sn: CHILLERLC1
2008 & 2009 TN Coaster Draft Champion
You knew I wanted the other repeat too

Texting and driving is a no-no, especially with a QWERTY phone. I only use QUERTY phones now since I text so much and no longer have the patience for T9. I never had the patience to hit each key multiple times to get a letter out. I never was a fan of shorthand either, other than "LOL" since T9 did a good enough job of using real words.

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I figured along in the pros and cons of QWERTY that it forces people to use 2 hands and thus make it much more harder to fight an urge and do it while driving. The only problem I have in T9 is when they really don't have my word in the end so I do a bit of insert and subtraction though. It will remember the word then on the MOTO.

I remember in 2002 the outrageousness I felt in Paris when I saw from my tour bus a lady smoking, drinking coffee, and shifting the gears of her car all at the same time. Now in 2008 I imagine she added the mobile messaging on her Nokia to the mix.

If I had any remote chance of going QWERTY it would probably be a Blackberry Curve. I don't feel like getting media package though and wasting money on that. Then it seems like a waste unless it's going to give me baseball scores. I just about get by without football scores. A slider QWERTY is starting to look dumb to me too because the whole thing is starting to not look like a phone. I don't want the top to look too top heavy. I thought a LG Chocolate looked like a block of wood! I was never a flip phone kind of person even.

I didn't realize until Jimmy mentioned it; it looks like the SMS text mesaging runs on a different range/frequency/network than regular mobile calls if that's the right terms. I would be doing the same thing too if I was in a hurricane ravaged zone and at least one technology was running. My only problem would be fighting the urge to turn the device on since battery conservation comes to mind.

I was recently jammed from even messaging when 2 million of us were in Center City Philadelphia for the Phillies World Series Parade. Too much saturation, lots of high schoolers there. Like I said before it was the only Halloween where you would not be cool to be sitting in school on a party day in costume. The usual jam on New Years is about to come once again. I remember it took me 16 minutes to get messages issued at midnight New Years.

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Thrillnetwork Moderator - Sophomore Original sn: CHILLERLC1
2008 & 2009 TN Coaster Draft Champion
You knew I wanted the other repeat too

I dont see anything wrong with it. I use it when at parks.. Sometimes there's just too much noise.. Its easy to just text someone to ask where they are or what ride/line their at...
Also you can mass-text someone.. Cant really call 8 people at once. I never even used text until around mid-2006 a good 6 years after getting a phone, but also not until I had my first full qwerty phone

I also think it helps with things like directions. You might not hear someone right the first time on a phone and have to ask "what?" 2 or 3 times... Where as if they text you it.. you can have it in word.. and reference it as much as you want.

It's possible to space out on hearing directions so to see it in text yeah does register better.

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Thrillnetwork Moderator - Sophomore Original sn: CHILLERLC1
2008 & 2009 TN Coaster Draft Champion
You knew I wanted the other repeat too

Texting allows multiple conversations at once, not that I'm so incredibly popular.

It also allows you to not have to talk. It's not so much that I don't want to hear somebody, but I don't want to always talk on the phone an hold it to my ear.

Ever had your ear fall asleep? haha. Serving customers I sometimes get angry and think what if the world just froze, if people that leaned into their phone were just frozen in that pose for a Quasimodo effect when time would be unfrozen. I also thought in a Sci Fi frame of mind, if a person with a Bluetooth with a sudden bolt of energy/lightning bolt has the Bluetooth fused into their brain and become a Star Trekkie Cyborg. I know of a certain coaster for them at Carowinds.

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Thrillnetwork Moderator - Sophomore Original sn: CHILLERLC1
2008 & 2009 TN Coaster Draft Champion
You knew I wanted the other repeat too

I text minimally...the only reason I text is usually to arrange times to do something, like pick someone up at the Airport, meet somewhere, or the like. I mix texting between calling people and leaving voice messages. I think Text Messaging can be used efficiently. No, I'm not talking about texting people in a place where they can't talk (Like class), but texting in some ways is almost like leaving a Post-It note on someone's phone asking/reminding them of something.

I just can't stand people that text endlessly talking about "omg i got sooo drnk lst nite!111"

Or

"omfg wtf y wuld she say smthing liek dat?"

But I guess its better than if they were talking about it behind me during class...

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Thornton to Heatley all day, every day.

When my 17 year old sister responded to my message with something like that I sure yelled at her. Grow up!

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Thrillnetwork Moderator - Sophomore Original sn: CHILLERLC1
2008 & 2009 TN Coaster Draft Champion
You knew I wanted the other repeat too

I don't know anybody who texts with that awful lingo anymore. All of the texts, IMs, and Facebook comments I see are written the same way posts on this board are.

Yes. This society likes to also give you a dirty look if they bump into you when texting, even if you were watching where you were walking.

Sounds like every one of my cousins (those under 28).


I have had salespeople try and sell me a phone, telling me all the fun stuff, but get baffled when I say I just want to get a PHONE and not all these crazy extras. Can you imagine the weird looks I would get if shopping for a camera, I asked if it made and received phone calls?

If I have a cell phone, it will be to make and receive phone calls. If I want to take pictures, that's a camera. If I want to listen to music, I'll buy an iPod or a walkman. If I want to surf the internet, I'll wait til I get home.


And yet, I'm the hated one in the family because I don't have a cell phone.

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3 on my list from last post should have been for mass messaging. I don't feel like calling my entire phone book on Christmas to wish them a Merry Christmas! Texting 10 people at a time is much more convenient. It also helps out when you're getting your new phone number out to people as well.

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I don't text, so NOT EVERY teen.

I mainly see people texting their friends in school because they can't talk to their friends. Most of them get caught.

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I hate texting. The only times that I have texted were because my roomate is a dumbass. He's texted me several times saying he lost/forgot his key, and that I needed to come back and let him in. If I don't respond, he'll just keep texting, so I have to text back to shut him up.

The whole texting thing just seems like a step backwards to me. I've yet to come across a situation where texting was the better option. Plus the grammar is terrible. You must just know some smart people Jerry, because all the texts I see or receive are barely understandable. And I can't stand all the dumbasses who text back and forth durring class asking dumbass questions like "wut r u dng" or "hey wut up". Really? Is it really that important that you know what they're doing at that exact moment, while they're supposed to be taking notes in a class that you know they're in? Ugh. I hate today's culture.

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I was reminded of a funny story today. In I'd say, 2005, only 3 years ago, when I guess texting was big, I received a text, while I was in my bedroom, from a girl in my living room.

Now, not only had I never received a text before, but I was completely unaware that my phone was even capable of such, and I couldn't for the life of me figure out why she was texting me when she was in the next room.

And tha sorta set the stage for the rest of my life.

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HANNAH MONTANA!!!!!!!!!
TAKING THE WORLD BY STORM!!!!!
"I'm living proof....THAT GIRLS CAN ROCK!!!!!!"

I hate it when people insist on having conversations by text. I do use the text messaging, and I do use some of the shorthand in the message (when you're limited to 160 characters, you kinda have to sometimes). But, usually it's just for finding out something that doesn't warrant a call or an email. Otherwise, it's so impersonal... worse than even instant messaging.

At work, I use it for getting voicemail notifications, and that's it.

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ThrillNetwork Webmaster/Systems Administrator -- My Official Fansite -- Get Firefox!
Everytime I ride a coaster, it valleys. I've never been on a stalled coaster or had one roll back (except Wicked Twister and what was Superman: Ultimate Escape, which does that by design).

^^ HAHA Texting in the same house hahaha. I was sleeping at my uncle's in one room and messaging my cousin's friend who was in the next room that I was digging. hahaha "We should be chillin girl." lol I guess I understood.

After awhile I like to save messages and prefer to get a friend on the IM on the home computer.

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Thrillnetwork Moderator - Sophomore Original sn: CHILLERLC1
2008 & 2009 TN Coaster Draft Champion
You knew I wanted the other repeat too

People cannot always use a phone. While people are at work/school/ in a noisy area where talking is not possible texting is an adequate solution.

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"For each path you walk down, there are several others you have to bypass. Maybe walking those paths would have made you happy, maybe they wouldn't have. You'll never know. Choose your path, walk it, and make the best of it."

Yes, carrying four devices with you makes much more sense then simply having one device that can do all four things. What if you're out and can't easily access a computer and neat to get some information? Doesn't the prospect of having the internet at the palm of your hand seem like a good idea?

I dunno, seems like you're just being overly critical for nothing. Technological advances happen for a reason.

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"For each path you walk down, there are several others you have to bypass. Maybe walking those paths would have made you happy, maybe they wouldn't have. You'll never know. Choose your path, walk it, and make the best of it."

I just can't stand when people pay more attention to their DAMN PHONE than they do to the people RIGHT IN FRONT OF THEM!

One of these days I'm gonna grab the phone out of some douches hand when he runs into me because he's texting and not paying attention, and I'm gonna throw it on the concrete in front of him and smash it to pieces.

Can't wait to see the look on the guys face.

And... No one is forcing you to use text messaging.. Or the camera that comes with a phone.