Texting

As I was reading Chapter 7 of Ling, I came across a very interesting quote. "Often when we are sitting on the bus or subway it is boring, and so we can write messages and that entertains us in those boring moments." (Ling 147) This pretty much sums up how pathetic some people are in life....including ME! When I take the train home to Chicago, which is quite often, I find myself texting to distract myself on the two hour ride. Why texting? Who knows. Its not like I don't have homework to do or reading to get ahead in my classes. Instead I think it is just the fact that I would rather text somebody even if I had the option to call them, and I would most definitely prefere to socialize (but not with the strangers surrounding me because confrontation is not my thing)!

Determined to find some answers, I decided to read further to where it said that instead of trying to make it through an awkard conversation, you can take the time to really plan out what you are going to say and then edit it at the same time. This is definitely true for me and a huge plus because a lot of times I say something when I am nervous that I wish I could take back. There was even a section that talked about the timing of texting and it also mentioned that there were rules of what you can say in a text. So if there are all of these "restrictions" of what can be said in a text and at what time, why do people still resort to them over calling? I guess I am still searching for that answer myself. But in the meantime, I loved this part of the reading because one of my good friends just told me that her boyfriend of 1 year broke up with her in a text!!! Yes, I am totally serious too. But, that is not as bad as this story Malaysia permits text message divorce. I am pretty sure that breaking up/divorcing in a text message should not be permitted in society, so why do we let it happen?

Another very interesting part of this chapter I found was that people texting has been associated with social movements, revolts and campaigns and also bullying! I never knew that such behavior occured and I was skeptic about it until I read this When Text Messaging Turns Ugly. Further on in the reading, it said that people can anonymously send text messages and that is when most of the bullying takes place. I definitely disagree with though. In fact I did an experiment with my roommate. On my particular cell phone I can block my number while making calls. To my surprise though it is only with calls. I sent her a text and my number showed up. I do not though if this varies with each different carrier, but in my own experience I found that you could not block your number. However, if this service would ever be available or is now, I think that it would be a liability to carriers to allow this service because people might take advantage of the anonymity to the extent that they are harming people by: bullying, harassing or stalking somebody.

In conclusion, this reading was very repetitive in some aspects, but the information that we have not talked about before was fascinating to me. I never knew that there were so many restrcitions and rules of texting. On a lighter note, check out this website and entertain yourself with theseFunny texting cartoons.

-Molly