Nov 18 2008
Overheard on Dr. Phil:
Recently a young, female guest on the Dr. Phil show stated, “I like to text message while I’m driving so I don’t have to waste time talking to my friends.”
Seems to me there’s something wrong with this statement, maybe two or three things.
I guess we’ve created a whole generation of people who’d rather send messages via a small, electronic device than actually have a verbal exchange. I find this strange because at one time, talking on the phone was a most desirable way of interacting with friends. In fact, some people wouldn’t get off the phone except to eat. The old-fashioned, talking type, wall phone rang constantly during dinner when my children were growing up. They learned to swallow their food whole so they could return calls, then run out of the house to meet their friends and talk face to face.
Maybe texting is hot because we can keep eating while we’re interacting with others and technology has given us the ability to communicate under the table so we don’t really have to pay attention to what’s going on around us.
I don’t see anything wrong with texting. We still talk to our friends but texting is just a quicker way of making plans and passing news.