Joining the times

[Seravieve]

I find this thread very amusing. My mom and I both got cell phones 9-10 years ago, and within the last month or so she has finally learned how to text. Where as, I've been texting for probably 7 of those 9.5 years. My brother (4 years younger than me) only really answers to texts instead of phone calls. And even then his spelling is awful.. I don't abbreviate too much while texting, and T9 is my friend.

[RICHARD]

I had to google that.

All you whippersnappers rely on that GOGGLE way too much!

Some of the nastiest film footage of historical events is taken off of early television broadcasts.

The horizontal lines, flashing B&W splotches and jerky movements of what is being filmed.

Cell phone footage looks like an LSD Gumby and Pokey animation.

Check it out, You can see the BlockHeads in most of the clips!

[Laura's Babies]

I had texting put on my phone after Hurricane Katrina and they showed on TV how people couldn't get a cell call out but could get text. I got to experience it after Gustav hit here and we could only text but even that was hit and miss and we had to just keep trying all day to get one out. It is the same out on the river when I am working.. hit and miss but a text can come in or go out when a call won't.

[caseysmom]

My kids and I communicate lots over texting, I am actually pretty good at it but I do mostly type out full sentences.

I have fun texting my hubby raunchy texts when I know he is around someone

[CountryWolf07]

Cell phones are smart to have - especially for EMERGENCIES! LIKE.. tonight, my transmission fluid leaked out of the car - ohhh.. yeah.. and what did I have? My cell phone!

[sumbirdy]

Well, I feel like the odd one out here. I don't even OWN a cell phone...and I'll be 20 in a couple of months . I'm seriously technically challenged, if it wasn't for my dad this computer would have stopped running a long time ago.

To me though, I like HEARING someone talk, not just looking at words, and that's what I think phones should be used for. Computers-typing, phones-talking out loud. Whatever happened to simplicity? People have to go and make everything so darn complicated.

[krazyaboutkatz]

I still don't own a cell phone yet either. I'm probably the only one at my work that doesn't have one. Right now I don't see the point in having one because the kind of calls that I get are the annoying surveys, credit card accounts, or people who want donations. If I traveled a lot then I'd consider it but I don't have children or a significant other and my cats certainly can't call me.

[DJFyrewolf36]

I am hooked on my unlimited texting and internet plan on my phone...to give you an idea me and the hubby only used 500 minutes of airtime out of our 750 and yet I managed by myself to send and recieve 4000 texts in one month and blow through 3gb of bandwidth.

Im digitally addicted, sad to say.

[Maya & Inka's mommy]

I guess I'm a relic!!! Like I tell my son, DIL, and grandkids, cell phones are to talk on like home phones! I don't need one that takes pictures, takes me to the internet, lets me play games and music, etc, etc, etc! I have mine to talk on, and I'm not even fond of that. I only have one to use in case of emergency when I leave the house.

May I join the club !!!
I hate it when my daughter sends me one of her messages; it is full of abbreviations, like CU

[Medusa]

I'm past due for a new phone. My battery is getting weaker and weaker and I need a new phone anyhow but I just dread having to learn a new one. The one that I had before this one was so "smart" that I had to return it. Plus everything on it was so small and compact that I couldn't see anything so it was slowing me down. It's supposed to be convenient! I don't have a texting plan; I can receive them but if I return one, it's expensive so I guess I'll get w/the program and at least sign up for texting. It bugs me, though, because people text or email rather than pick up the phone and actually talk to me. I've lived alone for 13 years; I like to hear a human voice once in a while. A friend of mine emailed me and our mutual friends and said "I've been emailing Mary and she hasn't answered me. Please call her and see if something is wrong". Now, is that ridiculous or what? She couldn't call me herself? As it was, I had been answering her but she had her settings done in a way that it was sending my email to the junk file. I finally got an email from her that said that she had it figured out and would I please email her again so that she knows I'm alright. I wrote "Here's a radical thought: pick up the phone and call if you're that worried!" She still didn't call. She just recently texted me to tell me that she was probably going to be laid off from her job. Did she really think that I was going to text her back about such a serious subject? Later she emailed me to ask if I received her text!

I think some people use their cell phones to play games, get the internet, text, etc. but not to actually talk. This is why I entertain so much. I like human contact, actual warm bodies, voices, interaction. I've been dubbed the Party Queen but it isn't because I love parties so much, it's because I like people and I enjoy my friends' company. It would be wonderful if they would entertain, too, but they'd rather eat out. They've said that they don't want to make sure the house is always clean and ready for company.

I guess this turned into a rant, didn't it? I'm sorry. I'm just passionate about this subject. I love my cell phone and I'm glad to have it, especially being as directionally challenged as I am. On many occasion I've been lost trying to find some place and having someone talk me in has been wonderful and a lifesaver but cell phones shouldn't take the place of human contact.

[RICHARD]

I my cats certainly can't call me.

Oh yeah?

I have been in the kitchen and hear either the answering machine start scanning the messages or the speaker phone go off.

Yep, it's end on the end table walking on the phone.

[I_luv_rusty]

I just recently got texting and an up to date cell phone. I love texting! I never really liked calling anyone, some people yeah but others no. Its easier to just send a quick text then to make a call that may on last a few seconds. (like if im going to meet up with friends and just to tell them im there then hang up) Also some of my converstations go over for awhile while texting but in a phone call the converstation would be over way faster.
I also have a qwerty keyboard so its easy to text. I don't think I would like texting very much without it now, since I never used a keypad before getting texting.

[Twisterdog]

Well, I'm forty, and I love texting. I thought at first it was just because we have four teenagers ... it's the only way to keep in touch with them, really. That's why I learned. But, surprisingly, all of my friends, co-workers, board members, etc. all text as well, and these folks are my age as well.

I won't answer a text that is so full of ridiculous acronyms and abbreviations that it I have to struggle to decipher it. Those usually come from one of my step-daughters. She thinks she is clever. I think she is ridiculous. I just reply and say, "No idea what you said. Speak English." She has stopped doing it with me. I will use some well-known acronyms ... LOL, LMAO ... but that's all. I use the option on the phone that allows you to use one keystroke per letter and then fills in the most likely word. On my phone it's called T9, but I think it's different on some other phones. Since one of my son's friends taught me how to use it, I can hardly text the old "hunt and peck" method. Find a teenager to teach you, folks, you will LOVE it.

I resisted getting a cell phone long after almost everyone else had one. But, when my kids got old enough, we got a family plan and I got one. I have to say now I feel completely naked if I ever don't have my phone with me. My eighty year old mother is also on our plan, with her own phone. And while she is never going to use it like the rest of us do, she does take it with her and knows how to make and answer a call.

[molucass]

I'm more likely to answer a text than a phone call.. I never have been fond of actually talking on the phone, even before I got a cell phone..
I don't abbreviate or type in weird text speak either though.. I actually type out what I'm trying to say..

[caseysmom]

Its cute because my daughters friends all texted me on my birthday to wish me a happy birthday, half of them call me mom...it touched my heart it was so sweet.