Talking in 160 characters or less? No thanks.
I do not text message on a regular basis. In fact, I think I have written about two. Two in my life, not two in the last five minutes. I want to know how people like this here new-fangled availability of text messaging. Because it eludes me. I don't see the point of it, since it costs 10 cents every time I want to send one. I don't see the need for it, since if I want to talk to someone on my cell phone, I just call them. I only see the novelty of it!
From today's Washington Post:
About 7.3 billion text messages are sent within the United States every month, up from 2.9 billion a month a year ago, according to CTIA, the wireless industry's trade group.
So I guess it's popular... but is it really necessary?
The relative inconvenience of typing out words using a numeric keypad -- the letter "c," for example, requires three presses of the "2" button -- and the brevity of the message may seem a hostile environment for heartfelt discussion. But the discipline of having to distill thoughts into short bulletins, then waiting to receive the response, allows users to pour more meaning into the writing, some text-message users say.
How do JUsers send text messages, if at all? Do you feel like it's a worthwhile method of communicating? Or just a waste of money and some sore thumbs?