Answer your !@#$% phone!!

[CNYCacher]

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)

Do you feel that way about email?

[Hawkmoon]

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? 

I have no idea. No one has ever mentioned having tried to send me a text message. I don't know if they receive an alert that the account to which they are sending does not allow text messages, or if they send and the message goes off into a cyber black hole.

On my end it is totally transparent. I receive ... nothing. (Yes, I get voicemail messages. I don't receive anything related to text messages.)

[Balog]

Texting per se is fine for short messages. Email is good for leaving a paper trail. Instant messaging (such as gchat) is good for talking to people when you cannot do it verbally, such as at work.

[Headless Thompson Gunner]

I prefer email for business conversations.  Gives both parties time to think and respond when ready, and ensures a paper trail so that there are no misunderstandings later.

I hate text messaging.  It's difficult to express non-juvenile, non-trivial thoughts within the constraints of a 150 character message.  Anything that fits in a text message probably isn't worth saying.

[lupinus]

There's a place for texting and a place for talking. For important things and conversations it's time to pick up the phone and talk.

Though as annoying as someone trying to have a serious conversation is in text is, I find the reverse just annoying.

A quick simple FYI text DOES NOT MEAN CALL ME two seconds later. If I wanted/was in a position to talk to you, I would have called.

[Perd Hapley]

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.

This.  I have learned not to hate phones, but I still keep phone conversations as short as possible. 

There's a reason I'm on this forum so much.  It beats meat-space conversations by a country mile.  Besides, I know very few people in meat-world capable of such, or at least they're not close by.

I text in proper words and sentences.

This too.  I do this because text messaging seems like a brainless mode of communication for knuckle-headed fourteen-year-olds (kinda like Facebook ) and I don't want to be like that.  I avoid texting whenever possible.

That being said, I'm sure a lot of you intelligent folk manage to text (or Facebook) without losing any brain cells.  I recognize my prejudices for what they are.  Don't take it personally. 
 

[HankB]

I use email regularly as part of my job, as well as at home to communicate with friends & family.

My cell phone is a prepaid cell, used solely as a PHONE. My monthly cost for service is under $7. I neither send nor respond to text messages.

[sanglant]

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.

maybe something like this

BLUETOOTH® enabled for connection to cell phones and headsets

and this or this? the only trouble is bluetooth can be a umm, well it can be hard to figure out how to pair devices. and it's best to find a review of both things working together before buying them

oh, and a different point of view on the op. perhaps your dealing with someone with a speech problem and they simply can't talk to you?

edit: amazon link http://www.amazon.com/DS6321-3-Digital-Expandable-Handset-Cordless/dp/B002JH1C5Y 

[S. Williamson]

If it were up to me, cell phones would be one of the first things I'd de-invent.

Alarm clocks, car horns, and dogs under 25lbs would be next. 

[MechAg94]

However, if you get rid of cell phones, you would have to bring back Pay Phones.  That would be just plain tragic.  Also, a cell phone is 100 times better than a pager.



I like text messages for quick questions or quick answers, but I have a cell phone paid for by my employer and it doesn't have a key pad.  Anything more than a few words and I might as well call. 

As far as email, I like email a lot, but sometimes you just have lots of small questions and you can either have a 2 minute conversation and answer them all or type for 15 minutes and wait a while for a response.  I guess sometimes it is more efficient to write a message and get a response back later on and sometimes it is best to talk now.  It all depends.

[BReilley]

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.

I'm 28.  I find texting useful for conveying short messages which do not require much of a response.  It is, however, no substitute for verbal communication(that said, I hate talking on the phone, too).  Texting, like email, is terrible for conveying emotion, so I often have to write in a different manner from how I speak.

I also type in complete sentences, properly punctuated and not abbreviated(and I use a standard phone keypad...).  I find it hard not to be insulted when someone refers to me as "u" or can't bother to type the whole word "thanks".  Interestingly enough, my 60-year-old mother is the worst offender in this department.  She likes to remove vowels, use acronyms etc. and it often takes me longer to decipher her text than it would for me to type it clearly myself.

[209]

I don't have a clue on how to text. Texting isn't an option I took in my cell phone plan.  Consequently, I don't text.  If someone texts me, I delete it without looking at it.  People have learned not to text me. 

I suppose I've have to learn how to do it eventually.

[KD5NRH]

That it's an asynchronous form of comms does make texting useful.

It's also a heck of a lot more efficient than trying to find good enough reception to make a phone call from the middle of nowhere.  Type in the message, go about your business, and at some point when the phone gets a good enough signal for two seconds, your message goes out.  If the recipient replies, you'll get that the next time you get some signal.

[roo_ster]

There's a reason I'm on this forum so much.  It beats meat-space conversations by a country mile.  Besides, I know very few people in meat-world capable of such, or at least they're not close by. 

Where I work, there are some very smart folk, who can be interesting in conversation.

It's also a heck of a lot more efficient than trying to find good enough reception to make a phone call from the middle of nowhere.  Type in the message, go about your business, and at some point when the phone gets a good enough signal for two seconds, your message goes out.  If the recipient replies, you'll get that the next time you get some signal.

This.  Texts can get through when voice has no chance in Hades.

[mtnbkr]

It's also a heck of a lot more efficient than trying to find good enough reception to make a phone call from the middle of nowhere.  Type in the message, go about your business, and at some point when the phone gets a good enough signal for two seconds, your message goes out.  If the recipient replies, you'll get that the next time you get some signal.

VERY GOOD POINT.

KD is exactly correct.  Because text messages don't have to be "real time" and can suffer some delay, they are allowed to queue up and are sent when possible.  You can't do that with voice.  Therefore, a voice call will be blocked by network conditions, but texts will percolate through without either party noticing a problem.  IIRC, this was used quite a bit during Katrina.

Chris

[Jamisjockey]

Count me in the quickie text camp.  Fantastic for short messages that don't need a conversation.  Also great for sending messages that don't need immediate reply.  Slow conversation about something sometimes even.  That, and sending my wife embarrassing messages when she's busy.

[KD5NRH]

Therefore, a voice call will be blocked by network conditions, but texts will percolate through without either party noticing a problem.  IIRC, this was used quite a bit during Katrina.

Not sure about that, but the reason I thought of it is that, when doing comms for bike races, we use SMS to keep the radio frequencies clear and avoid misunderstandings when trying to send rider numbers and other info from a rest stop that may be 20 miles out in the boonies, with spotty cell service.

One location was bad enough that I ended up putting my phone on a spare antenna mast and holding it 10 feet up for a few seconds every 15 minutes so it could do its sending and receiving.  When a 50W ham rig is barely getting through, it's interesting to see a few milliwatts worth of cell phone doing anything at all.