Help an old man

[Paelos]

Young people often hang out in places where it's too noisy to speak over the phone or where it may be inappropriate to be talking out loud (not that that stops many of them) or they are sitting in classrooms pretending to pay attention. In those situations texting makes perfect sense.

Whatever, walk out to the fucking patio like the rest of the world. That 20 feet won't break your legs. And class? You shouldn't have the fucking phone on period.

[stray]

I believe in the freedom to do whatever the fuck you want to do with a phone. Down with tyrants!

[Paelos]

I believe in the freedom to do whatever the fuck you want to do with a phone. Down with tyrants!

I believe in actually having a society, not degrading our social skills even further with technology because we can't be arsed to have a 2 minute conversation.

[Signe]

But what if it's raining! 

I can understand people who decide on a cell phone instead of a land line, especially if you travel a lot.  Verizon charges us $50-something and that's not including long distance and other providers.  We make international calls, too.  It gets pricey.  I just can't use a mobile phone.  They're too small.  I feel like I'm talking to my fingers.     Also, when they vibrate, I get excited.   

[Righ]

I believe in the freedom to do whatever the fuck you want to do with a phone. Down with tyrants!

I believe in actually having a society, not degrading our social skills even further with technology because we can't be arsed to have a 2 minute conversation.

Ring ring.

Hello, this is Nagios. I was monitoring your second network access server in Erie and I saw that it had got warmer than the maximum temperature that you had defined. If you would like to acknowledge this warning, please say "acknowledge" now. No? Okay, thank you, I'll call back again in another five minutes if the temperature is still above the threshold. Take care.

Sometimes text messages are appropriate, Seinfeld.

[Paelos]

Can texting be used for good purposes? Sure.

Is it the overwhelming majority of the time? Hell no.

We'd be better off without phone texting technology. I don't see practical uses outweighing the annoying ones. Cell phones were annoying enough already.

[Righ]

Sturgeon's Law.

[Paelos]

I have a modest proposal, then. We eat the text messengers to solve world hunger.

[Righ]

We should eat 90% of everything for a balanced diet.

[stray]

I would say that they should be used the majority time, yes.

Of course, this only pertains to me. I don't care what anyone else does. I just happen to see the people I talk to all the time... So at a distance, there's not much else to exchange except a few sentences, mainly pertaining to... here it comes... finding a place to meet up and talk face to face. Most of my voice calls are used for very long distance communication. 200 minutes is quite fine for that (for me).

[Signe]

Although I don't have a cell phone, if I did I would definitely make anonymous crank text messages.

[Prospero]

I received my first "wrong number" text this week. It was much more entertaining than when some calls you with the wrong number. You can keep them on the hook a lot longer. 

[Arnold]

Fuck texting. I hate anybody who does it in favor of talking. If you hate talking to those people so much, stop being friends with them.

Why waste 2+ minutes when you can convey the information in 10 seconds?  You aren't trying to have a conversation, you are just letting someone know something that doesn't require, "Helllo, hey what's up, how you doing..."

My brother doesn't get this and it bugs the shit out of me when I send him a very basic text, and he has to call me back, instead of texting a reply.

[Tebonas]

With my last girlfriend I came to about 50 text messages a month and now in the honeymoon phase with the new one I'm at about 20 a day. Not for lack of wanting to talk with them, but for being able to communicate with each other while still being able to do something else like working. We also use IM and email, hell I would use smoke signals if I can spend more time with my GF than only the hours we both are free from work.

Not using every tool you are given just technophobic. Just as the Internet, text messaged don't only have the power to replace direct contact, they can expand upon it.

[lamaros]

With my last girlfriend I came to about 50 text messages a month and now in the honeymoon phase with the new one I'm at about 20 a day. Not for lack of wanting to talk with them, but for being able to communicate with each other while still being able to do something else like working. We also use IM and email, hell I would use smoke signals if I can spend more time with my GF than only the hours we both are free from work.

Not using every tool you are given just technophobic. Just as the Internet, text messaged don't only have the power to replace direct contact, they can expand upon it.

....

I'm sure the text messages are a vital part of your relationship, but fuck me if I would ever be a such a relationship.

Not being dependant on constant trivial communication with other people might be technophobic, but I'm happy to consider myself living in the dark age if that's the case.

[Tebonas]

To each his own, I'll just remind you people that you have 1k+ posts on a message board about trivial communication.

[Bunk]

I only have a cell, and I text very rarely. Common example, three of us at work go out for lunch together most of the time. If one guy is stuck on a call, one of us will text him which restaurant we are going to. Simple stuff like that. If someone sends me a text that I can't use a shortcut to reply to though? Then it annoys me.

[Nebu]

Update: I've narrowed it down to Sprint and AT&T for where I'll be moving to in the midwest.  Anyone have advice on choosing between the two (my third choice is Alltel, but I think I'm going to rule them out unless someone has a compelling reason not to).

Thanks!

[Trippy]

Try them both out at the same time. They both should have return policies that allow you to try them out for a certain amount of days and return/cancel the phones for a refund (minus usage charges).

[Oban]

Update: I've narrowed it down to Sprint and AT&T for where I'll be moving to in the midwest.  Anyone have advice on choosing between the two (my third choice is Alltel, but I think I'm going to rule them out unless someone has a compelling reason not to).

Thanks!

Sprint should allow roaming on Alltel's network, just no data access.

ATT has strong roaming agreements with rural carriers throughout the country for both voice and data access.

[Chimpy]

Update: I've narrowed it down to Sprint and AT&T for where I'll be moving to in the midwest.  Anyone have advice on choosing between the two (my third choice is Alltel, but I think I'm going to rule them out unless someone has a compelling reason not to).

Thanks!

It really depends on the specific region you are living. If for example you are living in Kansas City, Sprint is basically the only smart choice as the only dead spots in the greater KC area are in the salt caves since Sprint is based outside KC and they launched the network there.

I have been a Sprint customer since 2000, basically have had no problems with coverage while traveling in the US or anywhere I have lived except the house I am in now which is in a small town just far enough from a travel corridor to not get solid coverage.

You can also pay like $5 a month extra with sprint to have roaming minutes be treated like regular minutes.

I have friends who have AT&T and they like it, but I know other people that hate it.

The only people I ever met who used Alltell were in Branson where basically everyone had them because they were the only company with enough towers on hilltops to cover most of the valleys.