Dear People Who Love To Text:
I'll admit it: I'm a luddite. Yes, a luddite with a LOT of tech at her disposal, but still a luddite. And I don't. like. texting. It's intrusive, it's immediate, and it's time consuming as hell.
Now, I understand that it's The Way Folks Communicate these days, and I'm not averse to it in small doses. But... if I spend 5 minutes texting a conversation, time in which all I can do is focus on the tiny screen and slowly/painfully type words while fighting auto-complete... I'd much rather spend 20 seconds on the phone (!!!) dispatching that information quickly and continuing to Do What I Was Doing Before Getting Wholly Interrupted For A Marathon Text Session. Really. And to put this in perspective, I fricken hate the phone.
One of the most annoying forms of text abuse is when a person I'm meeting soon texts multiple times asking when I'll arrive. Well, you can add 5 minutes to my lateness for every time I have to pull over and park the car to answer your text. How's that grab ya?
Yet, the cardinal sin of texting, in my opinion? The late night text. Honestly, if it's after 10pm and you don't know I'm at rehearsal or at a gig, DON'T FRICKEN DO IT. In the last three weeks I've been texted at 08:00 on a Saturday, 23:00, 00:30, 03:30, and 06:00 on school nights. Every single time it has woken me up and kept me up for multiple hours, my heart racing, and ruining what was supposed to be a healing sleep at a time when I am really not healthy. Stop it.
Sincerely,
Cranky McCrankyPants
- - - - -
Seriously, I... I just don't know what people are thinking. Especially people who *know* I'm sick and know I'm a musician who has gigs most weekends and who know I can't shut off my phone at night because of my "day job" and who know I hate texting and who have been asked to not do it. Argh.
I just upgraded to the iOS that lets me silent the text tone entirely. Thank all that is holy for that. I may never see another text again, unless I'm playing Angry Birds when it arrives.
Now, I understand that it's The Way Folks Communicate these days, and I'm not averse to it in small doses. But... if I spend 5 minutes texting a conversation, time in which all I can do is focus on the tiny screen and slowly/painfully type words while fighting auto-complete... I'd much rather spend 20 seconds on the phone (!!!) dispatching that information quickly and continuing to Do What I Was Doing Before Getting Wholly Interrupted For A Marathon Text Session. Really. And to put this in perspective, I fricken hate the phone.
One of the most annoying forms of text abuse is when a person I'm meeting soon texts multiple times asking when I'll arrive. Well, you can add 5 minutes to my lateness for every time I have to pull over and park the car to answer your text. How's that grab ya?
Yet, the cardinal sin of texting, in my opinion? The late night text. Honestly, if it's after 10pm and you don't know I'm at rehearsal or at a gig, DON'T FRICKEN DO IT. In the last three weeks I've been texted at 08:00 on a Saturday, 23:00, 00:30, 03:30, and 06:00 on school nights. Every single time it has woken me up and kept me up for multiple hours, my heart racing, and ruining what was supposed to be a healing sleep at a time when I am really not healthy. Stop it.
Sincerely,
Cranky McCrankyPants
- - - - -
Seriously, I... I just don't know what people are thinking. Especially people who *know* I'm sick and know I'm a musician who has gigs most weekends and who know I can't shut off my phone at night because of my "day job" and who know I hate texting and who have been asked to not do it. Argh.
I just upgraded to the iOS that lets me silent the text tone entirely. Thank all that is holy for that. I may never see another text again, unless I'm playing Angry Birds when it arrives.