Yes, I am that friend. The one who is horrible at responding to pointless text messages. I just think having conversations over text is a complete waste. Period. Yes, texting can be very useful and is a great invention, but I feel that it is being overused and that real conversations are being ruined.
I love texting when I need to quickly communicate with someone. If I am at the store and need to pick up something for a friend, I can quickly text them a picture of what they need to be sure that I am picking up the right thing. Also, if I am picking someone up, I can quickly text them that I am on my way, rather than calling to tell them so.
Texting is great when you have a friend who is hundreds of miles away, and you want to send them a simple, "Hey, how are you?" text. If I want to have a short conversation with someone, texting is an amazing tool.
But you know what I really hate? Texting somebody with a full-blown conversation for days on end.
Yes, call me old-fashioned. But I used to be one of those people. I used to absolutely love texting; I thought it was the greatest thing that was ever invented. You can respond on your own time, and it doesn't feel as awkward as a phone conversation. There are no awkward pauses, and you can go back and replay your conversation over and over again.
But one day, I noticed that my conversations were really dull over text. I would constantly have anxiety that my friends were mad at me, but I didn't realize that is just how they write. Everybody has their own texting style, and although it is common knowledge never to text someone the letter "k," some people simply type in that fashion. They are not angry at the other person, they just don't feel like typing out the entire word, "okay."
As a Communication Studies major, I learned how important nonverbal cues really are in conversations. When you are texting, you simply see words. You don't see the person making eye contact with you, you can't see how their posture is, and you can't see their facial expressions. Not to mention that you can't hear the tone of their voice, so you have to hope that they are texting with lots of emojis so you can try to understand how they are feeling.
I love seeing these nonverbal cues in conversations, and call me weird, but I enjoy the awkwardness of phone and in-person conversations. Yes, it is awkward if you meet someone new and are still trying to break the ice. Yes, it is awkward when you get into an argument with someone and you don't know what else to say, but that is what communication is. That's what humans deal with. I feel that texting is making our lives too easy, and that is why I only text when necessary.
That is why I send my friend a text saying, "Omg something crazy happened today! Want to meet for dinner so we can talk about it?" Or I'll text my faraway friends and say, "I haven't heard from you in awhile, Facetime soon?"
Technology is amazing and it can enhance communication. But I feel that it is often being used improperly. So I encourage you all to only text when necessary, and to leave the rest of the conversation to being in person (or over video chat at least). We need nonverbal cues in our lives, and we are ruining our relationships by just reading words from a screen.
Feminism Redefined
