I have joined the younger generations in texting with my smartphone. To me, there are times it offers more advantages over calls. When I have just a quick question such as the other day when I asked our daughter, Lisa, “Do you freeze Black Bean Soup?” I’d gotten the recipe from her and it made a lot. Her quick answer was, “Yes.” A short answer to a text can be done nearly effortlessly.
A phone call disrupts what a person is doing and encourages small talk about such mundane subjects as the weather.
Texts leave a printed record. If a conversation slips my mind and I ask someone, “When are we meeting for lunch?” Their response leaves a note of the date, time and place to transfer to my calendar.
I can send a message to our two children, Lisa and Kurt, at the same time. When I had to use the wall phone to pass on information to them, I might tell one twice and the other not at all.
There is privacy in texting. A message can be sent from a public place such as a hospital waiting room. To make a phone call, a secluded area must be found. Others don’t want to be disturbed by someone’s conversation and I don’t want to share my information with strangers.
I’ve never been a big, phone talker. I have to plan the things I’m going to say before I make a call. While I was forming my habits growing up, we were on a party line, which we shared with several neighbors. Although some women chatted on it, my mother never did and she urged me to keep my calls short. There was also no privacy. We never spoke about anything we didn’t want known throughout the community in case someone was listening to our conversation. “Rubbering” to neighbors’ talk was a pastime for country people.
My phone makes a distinctive sound when I receive a text. If I’m too busy to check it at the time, it’s waiting when I get to it.
Much of my typing a message can be automatic. When I start a word, several alternatives usually appear on the dial. All I have to do is touch the correct one.
Do you use a smartphone and text?