I TEXT YOU TO DEATH

We are so inundated with the speed of transmitting information that the meaning and validity of the messages are lost in transmission.

People will text each other to death before they love each other to death. I don't care what anyone says, if you have the time to text, you have the time to call. Now of course no one can deny how convenient texting is and how very useful it is in situations like just letting someone know you're on your way to meet them or just to say hello. What I refer to as text death are for those of us who build relationships via text. The irony is we are texting....on a phone, the very phone that was designed...to talk on. No text can replace the sound and vibration of a persons voice.

Now, I've always preferred typing over talking. Remember the skytel two-ways from back in the day? I absolutely loved that little gadget but at that time only those of us in the entertainment field and the entertainment wanna-be's had one. In fact, the word "texting" hadn't even been coined. We were just happy to meet people with them so we could "beam" our contact information to one another. I was only able to contact those in my circle as the rest of the world was still getting acclimated to email and analog cell phones.

Now I'm having people text me books that come in 3-parts; expressing ambiguous thoughts and I can't tell if they are legit or bogus; using acronyms that I have to google to discover its connotation before I can even respond; getting dirty jokes that come equipped with perverted photos; and my favorite are the texts from men I haven't talked to in 2 years who just want to spark a text conversation.

I had dinner with a friend yesterday and her phone rang from a guy she's been, for lack of a better word, "text dating," and she didn't know what do. She let her phone go to voicemail to buy herself time to try to decipher what a call from him might mean. Does he want something? At this point his very voice is unfamiliar.

Again, I'm all for texting but texting can be abused.

Here are some texting DON'TS:

• DON'T CONTACT A PERSON FOR THE FIRST TIME VIA TEXT. CALLING SHOWS INTEREST, TEXTING INDICATES YOU DON'T HAVE THE TIME TO GET TO KNOW THE PERSON.
• DON'T SAY I LOVE YOU FOR THE FIRST TIME VIA TEXT. MATTERS OF THE HEART SHOULD BE ADDRESSED IN PERSON OR LAST RESORT WOULD BE TO VERBALLY EXPRESS YOUR FEELINGS OVER TELEPHONE.
• DON'T TEXT A QUESTION IN ANGER, THAT COULD GO ON FOR 12 HRS INSTEAD OF A 12 MINUTE CONVERSATION. BESIDES, IT FEELS BETTER TO BITCH ALOUD.
• DON'T EXPECT A RESPONSE IF YOU DIDN'T ASK A QUESTION. THE PERSON IS NOT OBLIGATED TO RESPOND TO COMMENTS SO DON'T KEEP CHECKING YOUR PHONE WAITING ON A REPLY.
  Now that you are well versed on some texting etiquette please say this aloud:
  
  ON MY HONOR, I WILL TEXT RESPONSIBLY. I WILL "MAN-UP (OR WOMAN UP)" AND CALL AND NOT HIDE BEHIND MY TEXT MESSAGES. ON MY HONOR, TEXTING WILL NOT SUBSTITUTE VERBAL COMMUNICATION.