Text messaging: urgency and occasionally unnecessary. A rant.

Up until mid-2006, I never was a fan of text messaging. I had enough minutes to call somebody, so why bother with spending two minutes to type a message on a crammed keypad? Then, I went to Japan, the land of text messaging. Making phone calls is still ridiculously expensive in Japan, so most people send e-mails through their phones to their contacts. The plus is that text messaging/e-mailing from a cell phone is fairly cheap; I remember when I was on my SoftBank plan, I had unlimited text messages/e-mail and unlimited Internet for about $9 a month. That’s about three times cheaper than AT&T’s plan in the United States.

With an unlimited text messaging plan, I didn’t mind getting pointless e-mails because they wouldn’t count towards a limit. But, after I returned to the United States, I knew that I wouldn’t use anywhere near 500+ text messages, so why bother paying $10+ alone for text messaging? I’m on a 200 text messages plan, and I use those for sending people casual notes. I don’t start conversations because if I wanted to talk to someone, I would just call them. I don’t see the point in engaging in a one-hour conversation through text messages that I could have in five minutes through voice calling.

And, seriously people, chain text messages? You don’t need to validate our relationship—as family or friends—with a pointless message that says “Little Sandy is sad. Text this to all your friends, and with the tracking number at the bottom, Sandy will see how many people made her day happier.” Hello~?! “Little Sandy” was probably just a bored intern who thought up “little Sandy” as a marketing technique… 15 years ago. Also, didn’t chain e-mails go out of style, oh, I don’t know, around the same time AOL did back in 2001?

Along the same lines, take advantage of the 160-character count in text messages. Texting back “ok” is fine if you know the person has unlimited text messaging, but when you know the person has a limited amount and gets charged for going over, be considerate. “ok” is not worth 15¢. And, jeez, combine messages if you have to. If someone asks “How’s it going? Did you make it home last night without getting lost?” Don’t reply with “I’m doing fine” and follow it up with a new message that says “yeah, I made it home.”

I’m laying down the law for those who text message me, even if it’s inadvertently. Beware, I will use the blacklist function on my phone.