I have just realised why my thumbnail has a dent in the tip. It’s from
texting. Who came up with this silly idea and can you add to my list of why texting
is stupid?
1. The beep, beep,
beep as letters are added drives me mad.
2. It’s only one step
away from Morse Code. Before we could speak to people via a telephone we used
dot dot dot dash etc. Now we can speak but we text instead. Where’s the sense
in that?
3. People do it when
driving. I nearly dragged a woman out of her car when I saw driving and texting with a
small child sitting in the front passenger seat. The lights changed to red, she
nearly missed that and the red light gave me the opportunity to leap out and
give her a lecture. I managed to restrain myself.
4. People text when
crossing busy roads. I’ve avoided several texters recently. When I was in a
hospital waiting room a young man, with broken nose and two black eyes, was
texting next to me. When he was called he stood up, still on his phone, and
walked into a pillar. The nurse later told me his first injuries had been
caused when he was texting and walked into a wall. Some people never learn.
5. Texting hurts my
thumb. Repetitive strain injury is a real threat but I don’t text enough for
that. Perhaps I should say it’s damaging my thumbnail. I’m a bit vain about my
hands.
6. Text speak can be
misunderstood. Example. ‘Sorry yr dog died. LOL’ Could be Laughing Out Loud.
7. And what about
predicted text? Who wants a machine that thinks for you? Not me. My brother
gave me a phone because no-one could work out how to switch off predicted text.
I thought I’d managed it and began a text to thank him for the phone. I wanted
Hi Phil. I got Hi Pig.
OK. It’s useful. The
recipient of a text can pick it up at their convenience. If you’re busy you can
ignore a text and save it for later. But how about a service where you could chose
between phoning someone or simply leaving them a short voice message? Instead
of Create Text we could have Create Voice Message and save all that bloody
beeping and thumbnail damaging.
Rant over.