My (failed) quest not to text
As a long time die hard telecommunications person, you would think I would embrace all forms of communications, whether it is on a cell phone or regular phone. But that is not the case, at all. I have fought and fought everything on a cell phone that wasn’t straight talking, voice to voice – a real live phone call.
When taking pictures on phones first started, I walked around exclaiming, “Why do you need to take a picture with your phone? That’s just crazy!” Then when accessing the internet and checking email became possible, I was even more against it. I told everyone I NEED to get away from my e-mail; I don’t want to carry it around with me. Then the dreaded texting started and I was amazed that everyone wanted it, “IT COSTS MONEY” I would tell my husband. I couldn’t believe people would pay money not to talk to people when email was the cheapest way not to talk to people, practically free.
When I heard everyone talking about their upgraded phone and all of the new features and apps, I just couldn’t embrace the new technology. It seemed we were one step closer to no one ever talking to anyone else, like the Walt Disney movie, “Wally.” I just felt all of this new technology wasn’t going anywhere good. How ever much I fought it, my husband was 100% more of a fighter against any cell phone. While I thought people were crazy for using new apps and texting, he thought I was crazy for just having a cell phone. Thus we, two technologically-employed people, were living in the 1990’s when it came to cell phones.
One time at a party, while there, everyone was staring at their cell phones and not looking at the people in the room with them. They were “talking” to the people inside their cell phone instead of looking at us, the real live people right in front of them. Needless to say, we were appalled and mortified at what had become of society…….there was no way we were conforming, no way.
One late night I had an unexpected trip to the downtown hospital for a family member. While returning home at 2am, there was a traffic jam and I was stuck in traffic not moving for about 20 minutes. I texted my sister in law asking if she was up and thus, began my first involved texting experience. After that, she apparently told her three sisters “Guess what? Yvonne is texting now.” And so it began. No more talking to my sisters in law, only texting. Kind of.
After that my son got a new baseball coach and he is a texter. It was around that time that I learned that I needed a texting plan, dang it, I’m going to have pay for this? For about a year, I was able to convince the phone company that I could use the now-defunct $5/month 200 texts per month plan. Around that time, I became a sales person and wanted to check my e-mail while away, thus, I reluctantly signed up for the small, itsy, bitsy data plan as well. I could live with my limited text’s and data plan and keep my old, cheap, non-smart phone. Ok I thought, I’m still living by my values, I’m paying for this but not nearly as much as everyone else. I haven’t joined the masses in their non-verbal lives; I still talk to people.
Then I put an ad on Craig’s list, using my cell phone number. I NO IDEA a zillion people would send me texts! Texts that I had no control over denying. I had to pay for each and every text. Where is that unlimited plan!?
The defining moment was when my son almost missed an opportunity for something exciting because I was trying to conserve texts. Because I was trying to be frugal I replied to someone with an email rather than a text. I fretted all night long wondering if I messed up by not replying with a text.
In addition to that situation, I learned that babysitters (teen agers) really, really, really like texts as the preferred form of communication. Call. No answer. Text. Immediate response. Also, parents of my kid’s friends seem to coordinate better for picking up and dropping off, if I use texts.
So, as it turns out, my family life like works better with texting. Plain and simple: It’s the best way to manage our amazingly busy lives. I must say it was really exciting to text a video of my son pitching - to my uncle in Texas
