I'm No Longer LOL-ing! TEXTING Is getting out of control!

Short messaging service (SMS) also known as text messaging or texting is a growing fad that people of all ages are adapting to throughout the world. In America alone, 40% of all mobile phone users utilize text messaging, and 80% of people ages 13-24 use texting as well as a form of communication. Many people use text messaging to cut down on talk time, to avoid awkward and nervous situations, to communicate in quiet places, or for numerous other reasons. However, is text messaging getting a little too popular around the world? Are we putting too much effort in cutting down communication and loosing valuable social benefits at the same time? My opinion is that text messaging is taking over and we are losing the value of verbal communication in the process because people don’t understand the limitations of texting.
When it comes to relationships and dating I am no professional however I do know that verbal communication is what drives the building of relationships whether they are with friends or with personal interests. I have gone through some bad text experiences and I am writing this article because I believe that I cannot be the only one with complaints regarding this epidemic. I mean, how many times have you sat and obsessed over a text message with friends endlessly trying to dissect what the person who sent the message was really trying to say. “Does he/she like me?”, “Is he/she mad at me?”, “What do you think he/she is trying to say?” and the list goes on. Messages are getting so short that they lack tone and complicate what are generally uncomplicated situations.
I’m not saying that using text messaging doesn’t have its very useful benefits, because in all actuality it does for many different things. For example it is easier to mass text a group of people in your campus club/organization that there is a meeting than call each person individually, it just saves time. But as a young woman, when it comes to getting to know a young man, the last thing I want to see is continuous texts flooding my digital screen from him. If this is the case it tells me that this thing is going nowhere and that I am obviously wasting my precious time and texts. It may sound crazy, maybe even a little taboo for this day and age but I enjoy hearing the voice of the person that I am getting to know. It just feels like the person in front of me or on the phone with me is present and that we are both focused on getting to know one another. What can truly be considered special about someone watching television, eating, talking on the phone, and then sending a late response to a message that you sent about an hour ago? Thank you so much for the kind and charming chivalry but no thanks.
While it is very sweet to receive a “good morning” text or a “hello, how is your day going?” text, a growing relationship should not be based heavily upon 160 characters or less per message, that’s just not fair or sensible. A call can speak volumes about who you are and shows me that you want to get to know me on a personal level. Nothing that technology can ever develop can ever be able to replace the shear natural ingredients it takes to connect with another individual verbally. Conversation is your way of inviting me into your soul, without that our getting to know each other is just another superficial reality show with no substance. So the next time you grab your phone and get your thumbs ready to go, remember that what may seem the easiest may be the most complicated way to go.

Diana G.