"No one realizes how beautiful it is to travel until he comes home and rests his head on his old, familiar pillow." ~Lin Yutang

Thursday, February 3, 2011

how can you mend a broken heart (sung by al green)

i couldn't think of a good title, so i just put up the song that i have in my head (and playing on my playlist currently).  it's on "the book of eli" (movie) and after watching that movie it's always in my and otter pop's head for hours.  i like that movie too.
but that's really nothing to do with what i wanted to blog about.  so, take this as the transition.

common courtesythat's what the title should've been.
so, i have this pet peeve.  it's stupid to voice it, because i'm TOTALLY a minority on it.  it's not one of those really common pet peeves.  well, maybe a little.  i don't know.  well, why don't i just go ahead and voice it and get this done and over with!
i hate txtng. 
i'm young.  i should be in the TXT generation, but i totally am NOT!  it's not the slang (omg, u, bff, lol, wtf, etc.) although it does bug me that it seems like people's spelling keeps getting worse and worse as the years go by and i thing txtng iz totally to blame and if not i don't think it hlps. ;)  but that's not what bugs me.  what bugs me is that people are SO attached to their "phones". 
cell phones have always bugged me for that reason, but now the phones are even MORE impersonal to the point that you don't even take the time to call people anymore when you need to talk.  you just send a text.  but people are busy, i get that.  so it's even MORE than that... it's that the phone beeps alerting them of a text coming in and it's an immediate emergency.  no matter WHAT they're doing, it STOPS.  read the text.  text back.  CONTINUE.  it's wrong!  come on people!!!  they're starting to make laws so people don't text and drive!  really.  it's obviously not ok. 
???
i'm understanding more now that texts are different than they were a few years ago.  it was just a couple years ago that people would text short messages like, "call me"  or "meet me at 3" sort of texts.  i thought that's kinda an easy way to get a message to someone without having to interrupt the other person's whatever-it-is-they're-doing.  i get that.  cell phones are rude.  so those short texts are a polite way to avoid the rudeness of cell phones.  but now.  now, the texts have turned into emails.  any time you need to write someone an email (formerly known as a letter), you text them.  well, that's convenient.  except that people are addicted to checking, sending, and receiving them. 
poke here or here if you need help overcoming text addiction.
i have a friend who has trouble sleeping.  when she wakes up at 3 in the morning and can't go back to sleep, she does her texting.  now THAT's considerate.  it's communicating with those she loves or needs to communicate with.  AND she's doing it at a time that [hopefully] isn't interrupting anyones' conversations or daily life. 
if you're a texter, i hope i haven't offended you.  you're probably laughing at my old-aged look at the new technology. 

go ahead.  laugh on.  just try and be more considerate... when you're around me. 

just clarifying, this isn't written to anyone in particular.  no one's done this recently that i can even think of, to offend me.  i just saw a GREAT commercial advertising what else but a new "Microsoft phone" and it cracked me up and it gave me a blog inspiration.  so there you have it.  even the commercial!

Try to remember, "I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me." COMMENT! IT SHOWS ME THAT I'M BEING READ!!!

5 comments:

LouisianaMom said...

I m a texter ... but I make a conscious effort to leave my phone in the car, or in my purse when I am with others. Especially with my family, my thought on it is if I am with my husband and kids what else could be important enough to interrupt that? I do monitor it when I am away from my kids,and rely on it in case anything happens with them! The thing that bothers me is the growing assumption that you should be available 24 hours a day to everyone. The boundaries between work and home, and family and non family have definitely been blurred. The saddest thing is to be out somewhere and see a family "together" but all on their separate electronic devices completely disconnected from each other.

troybee said...

Well, the same could be said about proper capitalization....

MamaT said...

you think??? i disagree in all aspects. if anything i think that using improper capitalization could be viewed as lazy. i've never thought that it could be a common courtesy that's being ignored...
personally, i just think of it as my style of writing.

Jen said...

I agree in every aspect about the txting. I think human communication has continued to break down generation to generation and yet we wonder why so many friendships end and why so many marriages end. Maybe I'm bias because I don't txt, I hate my phone and rarely email anymore but maybe it's because when I'm trying to spend time with a friend, they keep saying "just a minute" and then spend the next 10 minutes txting someone else on their phone...and this repeats every 20 minutes...then I'm like "why don't you just go hang out with them instead of me!" When we are with someone (family, friend, spouse, anyone) can't we just be ALL THERE.

ps. i don't use caps all the time either =0)

troybee said...

yeah--you're right. i just didn't read carefully enough before. not capitalizing isn't rude like that.