sunday scribblings: The Good Ole Days

#198 - "The Good Old Days"

I have a pet peeve, a big one.

Allow me to preface my pet peeve with the following statement/explanation. I have texting and I use it, well, often. It's nice to sent a quick text to a friend or roommate with a question or random message. I mean you might be in class or maybe they are and calling might not be feasible and it's more likely they can answer your text than call. Know what I mean? Whatever. And it's kind of exciting to check your phone and see you've gotten a message or two! You get my point if you text, which in this day and age, just about everyone does. Thus I sometimes miss the good old days when we didn't have texting.

Ok, here's where I leap onto my pedestal.


There are certain rules, like them or NOT, that apply when texting. Embrace them, write them down, and follow them. If I catch you breaking these rules, trust me, I'll say something to you and/or throw your phone.

1. If you have become one of those people that checks your phone every 2 minutes to see if you got a text, you need to get help. Texters Anonymous (TA). You need to go. It's ANNOYING.

2. This one just happened to me and it made my blood boil, especially since I was one of the hostesses. If you are at a party, PUT YOUR PHONE AWAY or LEAVE my party. Unless it is an emergency, of course. If you're at a party, be at the party. Mingle, eat, dance, laugh, enjoy. Do you really need your phone? No. You look ridiculous, rude, and classless.

3. If you are hanging out with someone, put your phone away. Give them your attention. In the words of Hitch aka Will Smith, "LISTEN to what [he or she] is saying." I cannot stand it when I am talking to one of my friends and then they bust out their phone and all of the sudden, I'm having a conversation with myself. Rude. Again. Thank you for making me feel bad. This also applies when in large groups of friends. You are hanging out so BE THERE. Hang out. It means the world to people. Seriously. Be a good friend or at least a decent person.

4. If it takes you longer to text something than a 1 minute phone call would to relay the message, CALL them. Conversations are meant to be had over the phone or in person, NOT through texting (there are very few exceptions). It's just annoying.

5. Texting using abbreviations, no go. Do not pass "GO." Spell it out or at least make it readable. Seriously. I should not have to bust out my texting translator (which doesn't even exist, get the point?) to read your text.

6. Don't try to be sarcastic over texting. It doesn't work and more often than not, it comes across incorrectly.

7. Answering a text with one letter, "k."

8. NO SERIOUS CONVERSATIONS OVER TEXTING; lovey-dovey, serious, angry, whatever. NONE. Be an adult and discuss them through a phone conversation or in person.

9. When people who you know have their phone with them 24/7, don't answer your texts OR they take hours. That completely defeats the purpose of texting!!!

10. Texting during church. Absolutely rude. Texting on a date. You are a bad date. Shame on you.

10.5 because it relates to #10 sort of: DO NOT, under any circumstances ask someone out on a date over texting. It means a WHOLE lot more, and shows you are a classy person, when you ask them out in person or through a phone call.

Ok, I think I've hit the major annoyances. I'm off my pedestal. For now anyways. Please have texting etiquette. Please. I beg you. For the sake of my sanity, my blood pressure, and my blunt/honest self. Please. Make the world a better place by texting properly. Thank you from me, your mother, your future spouse, your spouse, your boss, your Sunday School teacher, your friends, your grandmother, the person sitting next to you, your classmate, your professors, your uncle, and...your inner self.