For a while there, I drove my daughter nuts. Probably still do, but in this instance I knew why.
Ten years ago or so, I preferred email
to texting for longer communications. I’m a writer for one thing, and in an
email I could say everything I wanted, with the added comfort of typing it out
on a keyboard, where thanks to that touch-typing class in high school, I’m much
more proficient.
Plus, email felt like a mutually convenient way to have a long
chatty exchange since I could write when the mood hit me and the other person
could answer whenever they wanted.
My daughter preferred texting, probably for its immediacy.
And while I was guilty of rarely having my phone handy so
that I’d hear the DING! of a text coming in, she was forgetting to check
her emails. All is resolved now, and my main form of communication with most
people seems to be texting, and daughter calls several times a week to chat.
And yet, I have a friend who must not grasp the concept of
timeliness, who will often wait several days before answering a text. She’s always
enthusiastic about whatever is being proposed – a play, lunch with another
friend – but it takes forever for her to get back to us.
Ironically, she also uses texting the way I used to use
email, sending paragraph-long messages on that tiny keyboard.
I must confess I'm often not prompt in responding to texts. I think I'm just a hair too old to feel that need. Sometimes I don't respond at all, which recently prompted my brother to give me grief for not hitting the friggin' "thumbs-up" button, at least.
ReplyDeleteGotcha. Emojis have saved my bacon a few times when it seems the text string is going to go on forever.
DeleteI can't sort out all the dings on my phone, so I generally read my days' texts before bedtime.
ReplyDeleteI find the thumbs up emoji is great for ending a stream of texts.
ReplyDeleteI am also a fan of the thumbs up emoji. It fits in so many contexts, and it's easy and quick.
ReplyDeleteI prefer email for long chats, texts for shorter ones although I've typed plenty of long texts. the phone is my least favorite form of communication unless it's facetime because I can't see the person's face and I find myself interrupting when I think erroneously they have finished speaking.
ReplyDelete