Let's talk about 'text' for now, specifically text messaging. Personally, I find text messaging sort of a mixed blessing. I mean, it's great when you want to shoot over a quick bit of info, such as:
"Hey man, your two o'clock is up front - either answer the phone or get up there." or "Do you want me to bring home some take-out for dinner?" or "Holy hail, Batman! You need to put your car in the garage!!!!"
It can be fun for flirting or friendly banter purposes. Sending a quick message like:
"Seriously, I'm pretty sure it was illegal to smell that good"
Or the good old standby line in the crowded club of "I'm not sleeping with you until the fourth drink" (OK, clearly I suck at thinking of flirty lines and I while I would never, ever, ever send the latter message I will pick that thought up again later and run with it)
The first text message was sent in December of 1992, in the UK. Now, you can get practically anything via text - Daily Devotionals, Show Information from the History Channel, Vote in a new American Idol, get the latest Weather Alerts, find your true love via horoscope, and it seems lately like people use text messaging as a way to replace personal interation. People have entire conversations via test message; the serious kind! Relationships have blossomed and ended via text. People fight via text (which is still just flat out bat-crazy to me, or at the very least passive-agressive). What is this about? What ever happened to picking up the phone and having a conversation; which, by the way, was deemed as 'impersonal' not too very long ago. I'd be interested to know what others think of the "text message as a legitimate means of having a serious conversation."
Personally, I'm opposed. There's too much wiggle room in the written word when it comes to emotions, and too many possible meanings for phrases. The tonal quality of the voice is lost and that's seriously important when it comes to having discussions of significance. One of my very good friends, whom I practically consider to be family, does this a lot. Bugs the living daylights out of me - but, she loves to pick arguments via text. Not my bag, again, I'd rather talk it out. One of my guy friends just talked to his girl about moving in with him - via text. Really? To me, that deserves a conversation over dinner or while snuggling on the couch in your socks. :) Nothing says romantic like a text message while someone's working that says, "Babe, we should cut our expenses and move in together." Lucky gal. (Jay, love you bud, but really!)
Moving on, Sex. The flirtatious handshake of 2008. It seems with each passing year sex becomes less and less of a 'special' thing and more and more of a feel good fancy, without any real significance or need for consideration. Call me old-fashioned, and I concede I really am, but I'm not really thrilled with this movement towards the insignifcant. I liked that sex that was something that held meaning; it wasn't something cavalierly done with anyone with whom you had shared a fourth drink and found fun and flirty. It just seems right that it should be part of a larger expression of a relationship - with someone you care about, with whom you share significant life experiences and feelings that you don't have for anyone else. I was getting my second pedicure of the week (yes rediculous, but it was a stress reliver, so shush!); there was this girl gushing on the phone about the guy she had hooked up with the night before. There's just something utterly distasteful about the phrase 'hooked up.' Appropriate, but distasteful. She was talking about how when she left his house, she didn't even know his number. Soooo, she had sex with a guy that she didn't even know how to contact again unless she chose to stalk him and go back to the house she probably went to while slightly inebriated. How is that romantic or even fufilling? And what does that do to her inner self-esteem?
It is safe to say that I am not only old-fashioned, but disturbed.
It's also still raining outside; I'm incredibly stir-crazy. So much so that I can't even really focus on properly finishing this post and as such, will come back and modify it later. In the interim, please feel free to add/send me your thoughts.
No comments:
Post a Comment