texting

One of my simple joys is receiving text messages. I think this form of communication is very powerful. Nowadays, people are lucky to have such a practical tool. Where words cannot be expressed fluently out loud, where physical presence cannot be had for logistic or safety reasons, where conveying one’s feelings of care or disgust has ceased to be personal, a text message is always an alternative.

I have gotten myself in trouble through text too many times in the past. I have learned the very obvious limitation of this is the absence of evaluation of the circumstances when the message was supposedly composed. One could only guess if the person sending it was happy or furious or gloomy or thrilled. Not everyone is a mind reader and not everyone is good with charades. It’s even more depressing that texting reduced a greeting to a 3-letter word – HBD! Or that this technology became an excuse for others to be late – IL B L8. Or a cover for an otherwise annoying incompetence to spell – IM PUR N SPELNG☺.

Even so, I am not unhappy about texting; I am more disappointed with the people misusing it. Convenience has its price indeed. It cultivates a society of jejemons who lack foresight, diligence, verbal and written competence, and personality (because in texting, you can be whoever you want to be).

I still like to receive text messages… but only from people I personally know; from people who do not abbreviate words to unauthorized lingual expressions (spend for the sake of language, people!); from people who are considerate enough to keep their appointments (though sometimes I'm guilty of this... hehehe); and from people who are man enough to own their words.