How Does Texting Affect your Relationships?
November 29, 2009 4:30 AM   Subscribe

More of a cultural shift question, I guess. Me and the kiddies got cool G1 phones and I've become a huge fan of texting (the kids already were). I'm able to have a lot of quick, "whatcha doing?" types of chats with the kids, and I find myself keeping up with more of my friends on a regular basis. I even recently sorted out the college application process (my daughter and I had an unpleasant face to face over this) all via text. I also started dating someone a few months ago and we're texting at least 10 times a day. So here's my question: texting definitely makes me feel more connected to more people than I did previously, but this is new to me (and much of my generation). Also, I'm pretty bad on the phone and have always tried to avoid phone chats, but I like to read and write and I think I express myself better via text. It's hard to always detect sarcasm, and I hate emoticons, but I just really like texting. Are people more connected now since we can have these visual chats? Thoughts?
posted by dzaz to Human Relations (5 answers total)

This post was deleted for the following reason: There doesnt appear to be a problem to be solved here, which is what ask metafilter is about. As it stands now, it reads as "Lets chat about texting" -- vacapinta

 
A timely question. My wife and I have been having discussions about this because our 13 yo wants texting on her phone. My wife thinks it's antisocial. I see that potential but also see other more positive aspects (like communicating with our daughter in a more unobtrusive manner). I will be interested to see the replies on this one.
posted by Taken Outtacontext at 4:41 AM on November 29, 2009


Everyone is different, I think. Some people love voice to voice communication. I can't stand being on the telephone. I like time to gather my thoughts. I also don't like texting or IM because I just don't like intruding on people or being intruded on. (I'm a blast.) So I'm an email person. I can email for days.

I think it's a cultural shift in that these options were not always available, so when they appear some people jump on them with both feet. Maybe those people would have been less connected in the past.

Then again, some people are bad on all three fronts. I think I've gotten about two phone calls from my dad in my entire life, and if I got a text from him I'd probably just pass out. He's not a talker or a writer. Fortunately my mom functions as a cell phone tower, so he does all right.
posted by A Terrible Llama at 4:55 AM on November 29, 2009


Response by poster: I like it for the kids...it is unobtrusive, and my daughters are more willing to tell me things via text (like recently one kid was at a friend's house and she texted me that so and so was acting like a moron and asked me to come get her).

But I had to lay the ground rules out, too about texting being as anti-social as having phone chats in front of others. Other than that, it's been great for me and my kids.
posted by dzaz at 4:58 AM on November 29, 2009


it fills the same niche in my social interaction as short chatty email, really.
posted by rmd1023 at 5:04 AM on November 29, 2009


Yeah it fills the same niche, except that niche never used to be fill-able 24 hours a day. So, when your kids are at school, when they're at lunch, when they're getting up in the morning or supposed to be doing homework in the evening... all those times they used to have for themselves.
posted by Civil_Disobedient at 5:13 AM on November 29, 2009


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