I'll send you a text

In 1998 I was in Year 10 at school, 4th year of secondary. I didn't have email, I didn't use the Internet..didn't even have it at home. But what I did have was a mobile phone

It was a Nokia Ringo....as expected the Lennon and McCartney had sold out so I got the less popular band member.  In all seriousness I bought it from a mate for £15 I believe.  I was 15 and I could communicate with anyone at any time with this device which had cost me only £15.....I was practically an astronaut 

But I couldn't text. See this was 1998 and the Ringo was an analogue phone, text messaging didn't exist, but it gave me more time to focus on the important things in life.....Snake

In reality I had no one to call, but I carried that phone with me all the time outside of school...there genuinely was no point having it at school, what would I do with it, phone the teacher for help (I never needed help ;-)

This device gave me an excitement that I still get now with a new toy, maybe it's a boy thing, I don't know, but suddenly I was an executive, somebody, I was contactable at all times, I couldn't miss that important meeting....or football match over the green

When I was 17 I used to carry two phones all the time, I was an employed man by this point and with important things to discuss, like my next shift at Matalan, I couldn't risk missing a call. To be honest one phone gave me cheap calls, the other cheap texts so it was worth bulging my trousers for.......who doesn't like a bulge in their trousers

Even having lived through the era of two phones, my 'Lord of the Rings' stage as I could call it,  I would say that mobile phones didn't take over my life until around 2007, and the invention and wide distribution of the 'Smart' phone.  

It'll surprise some of you to know that I didn't have an iPhone, I don't know if I just couldn't afford one, but it didn't matter, I was making a stand against the domination of Apple, I was supporting a company that I'd felt the benefits of for many years, no, Anusol have never made a phone...but Google have

Anyway, I've digressed, I've since had 3 iPhones, I'm typing this on my current one, I can then share it with my iPad, and across my Apple TV. See what I mean, I'm not buying in to that corporate Apple brainwashing 

But now to the main topic 

I wholeheartedly believe that the invention of text messaging may be one of the pinnacle moments in destruction of the age of communication 

When my parents were 'courting', 'stepping out' or 'dating' to make it seem a little less 1920's they didn't even both have phones at home. I believe, and I'm sure ill be corrected about this later, my mum had to walk a fair distance to a phone box, to phone my dad, who presumably just had to make it as far as the hallway. I can imagine the uproar if he'd had the cheek to not be at home when the call came

But this effort meant that there was no room for confusion, misinterpretation, things couldn't be 'taken the wrong way', not like now

How many times have you received a text that has immediately angered you. One of the most annoying words in the world for me, in text message terms, is 'Fine'.  It's not a negative term, it's not derogatory, but show me an example of a time when it wasn't used to mean exactly the opposite to fine

See it is impossible to write something without the possible inference of negative connotations, (that may just be me using big words to sound clever) when you write something, you know exactly how you mean it to sound, but you cannot control how the receiver interprets it

I'd love to see a statistic for how many friendships, relationships etc have been harmed or even destroyed by the misinterpretation of text messages...why not call people...or better still, and stick with me here cos its wild, talk in person

Turnip

The mobile phone, texting, email, Facebook messaging, tweeting, it all has it's place, the world has doubtless been improved in many ways by their invention. But with every victory there are casualties and perhaps social interaction is, just maybe, being destroyed by social interaction 

And don't even get me started on the word  'texes'. 

You 'text' me and I received your 'texts'

I'll leave you with some humorous pictures, which as per usual will have nothing to do with the topic above

Bye bye for now

Tomorrow's topic - why are 'smiley' faces always yellow? - A show of brightness or casual graphical racism