Living Text Free

Let me point out that I am not anti-cell phone. I happen to own and have been known to occasionally use one.I am a proponent of spoken conversation. I simply do not text.

First of all, I choose not to pay for texting. Originally, I had my youngest daughter on my family plan. We had 700 shared minutes, of which she typically used around 692 minutes and graciously allowed me the rest.
She also needed unlimited texting. If you run over your allotted texts they are hugely expensive, even more than the unlimited text feature, and this girl is a very rapid and prolific texter.She is no longer on my plan.
I now have a very basic cell phone plan that is extremely affordable because it does not include texting. Why pay for a feature that I will never use?

We were on vacation in Canada and one morning I found a text message on my phone. It was from a couple in Southern California, thanking me for the lovely time they'd had visiting us and saying that we were welcome to stay with them the next time we were down in the Los Angeles area.
That was very sweet, but I had no idea who these people (I think their names were Gunther and Berta) were. They texted while I was out of the country which involved roaming fees on my bill.
I did not reply, hoping they would realize that they had the wrong number.
They texted the next morning and sounded annoyed that I had not replied. When I still did not respond, they decided to text me in my native tongue, which is apparently... German.This was the last text. I had to pay for them.

The thing that really annoys me are the spam texts. I started getting a lot of them and was very upset at the thought of being charged for them. Then I came across the article below.I followed the instructions and it worked.

I was amazed to discover that in the text messaging world, you don't even need to have a basic knowledge of spelling or grammer. In texting, everyone is encouraged to communicate in abbreviations and code language. The cell phone itself, aids in this endeavor by pre-programming the shortcuts and remembering the new ones that you add. Many of these abbreviations are codes designed specifically for teens.
For instance-
P911- Parents coming into room alert.
PAW- Parents are watching.
POS- Parent over shoulder. And so on.
As quickly as parents learn this lingo, it changes for teen security purposes.
The picture on the right is an example of what currently passes for communication.
It is taken from the Suite101.com article below on decoding text.

Decoding Text Messaging Lingo: A Beginner's Guide to SMS Etiquette
Does that look like gibberish for now? Don't worry; by the end of this article, it will all make sense.

One of the main reasons I don't text is because when I speak with someone, I want to hear their voice. I want to hear the nuance, the texture, the emotion, the expression, the sound!
I cannot emotionally connect with a string of gibberish on a screen.
If you truly are laughing out loud, prove it. Let me hear that hilariously contagious sound so I can join in.
One of the last remembrances I have of my mom and dad is a recording of their voices.
It is the unique sound of them. It speaks to my heart.
No amount of saved text messages from a loved one could ever replace that.