A Love/Hate Relationship

Just to clarify, I'm not talking about my relationship with this guy. We're doing great and I love him almost all the time very much.

No, I'm talking about my attitude toward texting. On the plus side, it's a quick way to get in touch with someone. And so much easier than calling someone on the phone. After all, if you call you have to go through all the "how-are-you's" before you can get to the actual reason you called. When you text, you can just ask, "where do you want to meet?".

Texting is also convenient because you can answer it at your convenience. Although I sometimes answer texts in my head, without ever actually sending a response. Senior moment!

Sometimes texting is not so great, though. For instance, I think it's ruined most people's ability to spell. I use very few abbreviations when I text. I don't use "4" for the word "for", and I don't shorten "you" to "u". Is it really going to save that much time to cut out two short letters? The word "you" isn't that long a word anyway. Why do you have to abbreviate it? I have been known to correct the spelling in texts I receive from my offspring, and to refuse to answer their texted question until they correct their spelling.

I do use LOL occasionally, but I have to admit that I'm not really laughing out loud as often as my use would indicate.

Texting can also be frustrating when you accidentally send a text to the wrong person. Not too long ago I got a text from one of the ladies in our church. She texted, "Have a great day at work. I love you!" That's not the kind of text I would normally get from her, but it's always possible that she was just trying to be encouraging, so I answered, "Thank you. I love you too!" Turns out she was trying to text her husband.

The other day I told Siri to text one of my sons. We left for church at the same time, but he was traveling quite a bit faster than I was. And I was going the speed limit. I told Siri to text him the statement, "You're going to get a speeding ticket." Fortunately Siri read the message back to me before sending. She got the message right, but somehow she misunderstood the name, and I almost sent that message to someone I didn't know well and hadn't talked to in months. That would have been a little awkward.

Speaking of awkward, the most embarrassing use of texting I've had lately was when I was texting Kylee. My finger hit the wrong vowel, and I ended up swearing at her in text. I caught the mistake ... right after I hit send.

So what about you? Are you a texter? Do you speak fluent emoji? Are you someone who uses correct punctuation when texting? (I do!)