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Why do you love texting?

M

Maidenhair

macrumors newbie
Original poster
Jun 25, 2007
2
0
Edmonds, WA
I'm a 61 year-old non-technical hardworking woman, and I have to admit I am falling victim to the iPhone's extraordinary advertising campaign. There is no question in my mind that I WANT one. I want the ability to access the Internet, the ability to watch certain TV shows and movies, the ability to take high-quality photographs, and the ability to access maps whenever I need to. What I don't need is texting.

I am not a texter, I have never understood what the appeal of texting is. Why would people use their thumbs on a teensy-weensy keyboard to communicate with their friends, when they're holding a telephone? I mean, why not just CALL your friend? Most calling plans have either unlimited or huge amounts of call time. You can express yourself far more articulately in live conversation, than you can with abbreviations when texting.

So, please, someone explain to this little old lady why you want to pay $30 to $45 a month to text your friends, when you can call them for far less, and express yourself far better.
 
I use it when I am at work or a friend is at work and they cant talk or just a quick message to leave them for later. It is also handy for those friends you need to tell something to but wont ever get off the phone during a call. Pretty much I just use it when I am not able to make a voice call or dont feel like it.
 
Texting is really ideal for high school / college kids. In high school i would send / receive at least 30 text messages a day. It's just a easy way to communicate with each other.


I also use it instances if im fighting my girl friend or friend, it's a sure way that they will read it, rather than just talking to them over the phone :)

-nickspohn
 
I text mainly because the people I text are usually at work and are not allowed to talk on the phone. So, during their breaks, they text instead of call.
 
Well professor wont allow me to make calls when I am sitting in his class...

Therefore I use about 2000 text messages a month
 
Maidenhair said:
I'm a 61 year-old non-technical hardworking woman, and I have to admit I am falling victim to the iPhone's extraordinary advertising campaign. There is no question in my mind that I WANT one. I want the ability to access the Internet, the ability to watch certain TV shows and movies, the ability to take high-quality photographs, and the ability to access maps whenever I need to. What I don't need is texting.

I am not a texter, I have never understood what the appeal of texting is. Why would people use their thumbs on a teensy-weensy keyboard to communicate with their friends, when they're holding a telephone? I mean, why not just CALL your friend? Most calling plans have either unlimited or huge amounts of call time. You can express yourself far more articulately in live conversation, than you can with abbreviations when texting.

So, please, someone explain to this little old lady why you want to pay $30 to $45 a month to text your friends, when you can call them for far less, and express yourself far better.
Click to expand...

I've always felt the same, but I've recently started to understand the appeal of texting.

If you're busy (work, homework, school), you can read and send a text during a quiet moment, and answer the reply when it is convenient. It's sort of like, "Why send IM's in iChat when you can press the Audio Chat button next to it?". You might be doing something in which you might not be able to have a sit down phone conversation; and if you don't have a whole lot to talk about, phone conversations can have lots of awkward silence.

Still, I can't understand people like my sister who can send 3000-5000 texts a month. That's just silly.
 
i'd take a phone with only a text plan over one with only a voice plan any day. texting is much more useful because half the things i need to say can be accomplished in less than 10 words. when you call, they might not answer. a text will always be on their phone sitting there like a voicemail only easier.
 
Texting is great for quick info, and can be sent to a group all at once. It dispenses with the "hi, how are you" stuff and gets to the meat, like an email.

Very convenient for lots of situations, including while sitting in a business meeting, at church (sacrilege, oh my!) or while in a loud area such as a sporting event.
 
It's only $5-$10 a month... not $30-45.

I use texts to communicate short things like "Wendy's at 3."

And it's a convenient way to communicate things to people if one of you is busy.
 
Texting is very popular at my school and it's not uncommon to send/receive hundreds, if not thousands, of messages each month. I send text messages way more than I make phone calls. None of my friends email each other anymore because everyone checks their phone more often. If you call, they might not answer the phone and you might not be able to answer when they call back, etc. If you send a text message, they'll read it eventually
 
Ya I txt all the time in class...(never to cheat :p) It is very nice not to have to talk to people sometimes, and is useful when you are in a loud place and wouldnt be able to hear anyways. I only use 900-1900 per month...sounds like a lot but they could be as short as "k" ....IMHO it is easier to get shorter messages across...

EDIT: looks like they posted before me....but it still stands true.
 
Coz I'm lazy, and when I text people, they're usually at work. :)

Also, if I forget a detail, I can look up in past messages.

And phonecalls make me nervous. I dunno why.
 
Bear in mind that usually half of the text messages average people use are actually incoming.. Sorry for stating the obvious.

The sad thing is that I rarely get my friends to answer the phone.. they just text.. which usually means that I run over my out-of-network texts.
 
Being married and always doing the couple thing...it's easier to extend a texted invite for drinks , dinner etc. so the other party can decide if they want to accept. This way they are not on the spot covering the phone while deciding amongst each other if they want to partake.
 
Thank you all so much for answering my question. Texting makes a lot more sense to me now. It seems like it's a convenient portable E-mail system when you just want to say something quickly. I hadn't understood that before.

I must say, it concerns me that students are doing so much texting during their classes, when they obviously should be paying attention to their teachers/professors.

As for texting during a sporting event, aren't you there to enjoy the game itself?

And finally, some of you are sending 1000-5000 text messages a month....Holy schmoly! How much of your TIME does that represent?
 
Maidenhair said:
And finally, some of you are sending 1000-5000 text messages a month....Holy schmoly! How much of your TIME does that represent?
Click to expand...

The magic of T-9 lets me finish a text message with correct punctuation, about 30 words long, in less than 30 seconds. Hee. :)

It's fun being a teenager sometimes. :p
 
the best thing i like about texting is how much easier it is to flake on people.

not that i'm this huge flake, but we've all had times when we don't feel like going out, and don't want the hassle of calling and having the other person on the other end trying you convince you to go out. with texting, you just say what you gotta say and not answer the phone for the rest of the nite. :D
 
I'm old and stuff... almost 28. I missed the boat on texting for the most part, but it's becoming more a part of my life. However, I require QWERTY to text and even then, I send less than 50 texts a month. I expect that to go up after the iPhone.

And for sporting events, rubbing a great play in my anti-Jazz friends is part of enjoying the game for me!
 
I love text messages not only for keeping in touch with friends and sending quick messages, but on my RAZR I would often use Google SMS to get weather, convert units or get the phone number for pizza. Now with iPhone I guess some of that need is gone.
 
I send about 500 texts a month.. Most of it is used for using my Mobile AIM while I'm away from a computer (long car ride or something). Texting is also convenient for people that either talk too much or to little during an actually phone call.

@katie ta achoo, I can't text without T-9. :p
 
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