Answer your !@#$% phone!!

[Brad Johnson]

What is it these days with people and text messaging.  I've been trying to get hold of a guy for three days, calling and leaving messages.  Yesterday he told me that he does everything via text message.  What?  The subject at hand requires discussion, a lot of it in this case.  Definitely not text message fodder.  He's dead set on doing it via text.  I finally had to force the issue this morning.  I told him to call me or the deal is off (and it's a big deal, too).  We'll see.

Seems to be happening a lot in the last year or so. You call until you're blue in the face but all you ever get is a damnable text message in reply.  I can see using texting and IM for simple things ("Hey, good to see you." or "Sorry, running a little late.") but for important stuff, business or personal, PICK UP THE DAMN PHONE!!  It won't hurt you to actually speak.  Gives your brain a workout and rests your thumbs.  Might prevent arthritis later on in life for all you know.

Using text messaging as a shield is a crappy excuse to hide from the rest of humanity.  It is, at best, unprofessional, discourteous, and rude.  At worst it's frighteningly open to potentially disastrous communication errors.  Come out of the cave, for crying out loud.  Join the rest of humanity for the few minutes it takes to actually, you know, talk.

Brad

[AJ Dual]

IMO, there's a certain psychological profile that prefers text communication, be it texting, email, or forum discussions like this.

With these formats, unlike a voice discussion, you can say what YOU want to say, and respond to the other person's points voluntarily, or not at all and you don't appear (as) rude. When you ignore or slide on a spoken point, it's much more obvious you're engaging in an intentional omission. In text, each reply has an independent life of it's own You have time to think about what you're going to say, and chose words carefully, handy if you feel the need to equivocate.

It gives you great latitude to talk AT each other, but not necessarily TO each other.

[charby]

I hate texting.

[BridgeRunner]

I simply refuse to text message at all.  Too expensive, too time-consuming, too generally annoying.  Compromise on email, perhaps?

[Declaration Day]

I despise text messaging.  Unfortunately I am being dragged into doing it more and more as time goes by.

I used to tell people that if they send a text message to my cell phone, I'll respond with an email in morse code.

[charby]

I simply refuse to text message at all.  Too expensive, too time-consuming, too generally annoying.  Compromise on email, perhaps?

No compromise to email.

I consider email to be like a mix between the old office memo and mailed correspondance.

[BridgeRunner]

No compromise to email.

I consider email to be like a mix between the old office memo and mailed correspondance.

Well, it's not halfway in between speaking and texting, but it's not annoying like texting or directly confrontational like speaking.

[Tuco]

I simply refuse to text message at all.  Too expensive, too time-consuming, too generally annoying.  Compromise on email, perhaps?

This.
Avoid the scourge by not nblng Txtmsg onyr phn.

I prefer email for business; there's a "paper" trail if needed.  

Except for the bad ear (left) making it hard to take notes on the phone, a good phone conversation can jump hurdles that a dozen emails can't cover.

One of my former bosses, maybe 62 years old now, owns a small engineering firm - still won't do email.  I don't think he even has a cell phone...
He has a draftsman send and receive files as needed.  
Good for him.

[Fjolnirsson]

I despise the phone, and am notoriously difficult to reach via said medium. I much prefer to converse about most things via email, partly because I find it easier to keep the conversation on track.  Partly because I can make myself clear in writing, and have a record of what people have said to me. It's much more difficult for people to lie to your face, in general, and writing things down leaves a record of their lies. I also find email saves time over telephone conversations.
However, Some things do require actual discussion. In those cases, I would far rather take the time to sit down and have a face to face with someone, than talk into the phone.
Don't know, maybe I am some sort of psychopath. I know I am socially challenged. But I don't get wanting to text or email on a business deal. My aversion to the phone is more a personal thing. In business issues, I'll stop in and see someone, or call if I must.

[BridgeRunner]

But I don't get wanting to text or email on a business deal. My aversion to the phone is more a personal thing. In business issues, I'll stop in and see someone, or call if I must.

Yeah, I am pretty phone averse myself.  I think though, that emailing allows one to build a mutually understood and acceptable  agenda for negotiations over a period of days.  Then the in-person meeting is more likely to go smoothly.  It's handy to have a record of preliminary matters. 

[Iain]

I text in proper words and sentences. Don't mind the medium, it's good for a quick thanks or, I'm late, or even a how you doing

By the time someone has sent me three or four I'm starting to wish they would ring me instead.

[CNYCacher]

. . . he said typed out on the internet forum.

[Hawkmoon]

I simply refuse to text message at all.  Too expensive, too time-consuming, too generally annoying.  Compromise on email, perhaps?

Me too. I had Verizon block text messaging from my account at the account level. End of problem. No text messages. If someone wants to contact me, they'll just have to call me.

[BridgeRunner]

Me too. I had Verizon block text messaging from my account at the account level. End of problem. No text messages. If someone wants to contact me, they'll just have to call me.

I should do that.  My spouse and I share a cellphone, and I very rarely carry it,b but I think his opinion on text messaging mirrors mine. 

Out of curiosity, how does that work?  When someone attempts to text you, what happens? 

[mtnbkr]

I can't stand protracted conversations via text, but the functionality is too useful to turn off.  I use texts to send info when I can't speak (on a conference call, in a meeting, etc).  I also use text messages to send myself notes while out and about or for notifications from FedEx/Ups or automated systems (they'll send you  a text when there's a problem or the item has been delivered).  I just don't use them for general conversation if I can avoid it.

Chris

[S. Williamson]

We need to bring back telegrams. 

[Grandpa Shooter]

When my wife and I first met, it was via the Internet.  We emailed, then started texting, and only after establishing a good rapport did we meet face to face.  We use text as the primary mode among our family, but insist on proper language.  If one of them sends us some garbled up message, we just send back HUH?.

It is quick inexpensive way to get your message to someone and get a quick response.  Works for us.

[MillCreek]

Ms. MillCreek and I text to each other, but that is about it.  For business matters, I would prefer email so that I have a written record of whom said what to whom when.  Like many men, I am not a big-time talker on the phone.

[BobR]

I will occasionally text one of my kids to call me. It works, they read, they call.

bob

[RoadKingLarry]

My uber-liberal sister likes texting. She routinely texts me inane comments and jokes that I ignore. When she sends a message complaining about politics I respond with a view from the "right". Sometimes she gets it, some times it pisses her off and I don't hear from her for a few days or so.
I also have a number of saved responses that I copy and paste for replies to her. My favorite one is "I'm trying to see things from your point of view but I can't get my head that far up my @$$", followed closely by "I really don't understand what you are talking about about but gee, I wish I cared". Either of those will get her to leave me alone for several days.

[taurusowner]

I think it would be interesting/funny to see people's age along with their posts in this thread 

I personally love texting.  It does give one a chance to think about what they are going to say and deliberate before acting.  I'm 26.

[Ben]

I can't stand protracted conversations via text, but the functionality is too useful to turn off.  I use texts to send info when I can't speak (on a conference call, in a meeting, etc).  I also use text messages to send myself notes while out and about or for notifications from FedEx/Ups or automated systems (they'll send you  a text when there's a problem or the item has been delivered).  I just don't use them for general conversation if I can avoid it.

Chris

This sums up me and texting nicely. It has its uses for quick messages, but I simply can't work those tiny keys quickly enough to get anything BUT a short message out, and I get really annoyed when I need something detailed from a Blackberry user at work and they send me some texty "rspndg to ur emal" message that says nothing, followed by "sent from my Blackberry". As much as I also hate talking on the phone, it's often much more efficient.

[AJ Dual]

That it's an asynchronous form of comms does make texting useful. As the other examples above describe, "I'M IN A MEETING WILL CALL LATER. SORRY." to the wife who goes a bit nutty if I don't answer her call soon enough.

You can convey information quickly and quietly, and do so when you each have your respective moment to send the info. Or conversely, when it's too noisy to carry out a phone conversation, like on a factory floor, or at the gun range.

You carry out almost your whole social life that way?  Then that's

[CNYCacher]

I am 30 and I text all the time from my phone.  If you have a good physical keyboard and some skill, you can become pretty proficient at it.  I'm typing this from my phone right now. At the end of this message I will post how long it took me to type all this.

It's quite different for me with my palm prē compared to someone who has to mash out a reply on a T9 phone keyboard.  Even those on-sceen keyboards you find on iPhones suck compared to this.

Could it be that most of the angst surrounding texting comes from people who struggle with the hardware they are stuck with?

Well, there I go, that was 140 seconds to type on my phone.

[Brad Johnson]

Could it be that most of the angst surrounding texting comes from people who struggle with the hardware they are stuck with?

No, it comes from people who insist on texting EVERYTHING, even very important business or personal things where it's critically important to get a point or feeling across.

Brad

(sent from my cell phone)