The real cost of texting

whitetruk

love texting,probably average 3000 myself.
it`s wonderfull for us non typing people.

comfortablycurt

Texting annoys the hell out of me. I barely ever use it...I'll send like 3 texts a month.

Nothing annoys me more than when I'm hanging out with someone and in the middle of a conversation, they have to stop to reply to a text message. Just call them...it's faster, easier and much more efficient.

As others have said, it really takes away from the actual human factor in communication. With people(especially younger people) primarily communicating over things like Myspace and text messaging, it really takes away from the actual experience of human interaction IMO.

Texting is great for some people I suppose. For those people, it's a very useful feature. I can see why some people would like it so much...but I can't see any reason anybody would need to send 3000 texts a month. That's about 100 texts EVERY day. Do you have time in between sending text messages to accomplish anything?

Assuming that you sleep for about 8 hours a day...that comes out to a text message roughly every 10 minutes! Damn! Put the cell phone down for a while.

I always see people walking around with their face buried in their phones...not paying any attention to where they're going, what's around them. People texting while driving their car...isn't that kinda dangerous?:rolleyes:

metal83

comfortablycurt wrote: »

Texting annoys the hell out of me. I barely ever use it...I'll send like 3 texts a month.

Nothing annoys me more than when I'm hanging out with someone and in the middle of a conversation, they have to stop to reply to a text message. Just call them...it's faster, easier and much more efficient.

As others have said, it really takes away from the actual human factor in communication. With people(especially younger people) primarily communicating over things like Myspace and text messaging, it really takes away from the actual experience of human interaction IMO.

Texting is great for some people I suppose. For those people, it's a very useful feature. I can see why some people would like it so much...but I can't see any reason anybody would need to send 3000 texts a month. That's about 100 texts EVERY day. Do you have time in between sending text messages to accomplish anything?

Assuming that you sleep for about 8 hours a day...that comes out to a text message roughly every 10 minutes! Damn! Put the cell phone down for a while.

I always see people walking around with their face buried in their phones...not paying any attention to where they're going, what's around them. People texting while driving their car...isn't that kinda dangerous?:rolleyes:

Unexpected Curt, since you're a "Post ****", I would of pegged you for a "Text ****" as well, ya learn something new everyday! ;):D

Kex

metal83 wrote: »

unexpected curt, since you're a "post ****", i would of pegged you for a "text ****" as well, ya learn something new everyday! ;):d

+1 ... !

Kex

dorokusai wrote: »

I like texting because I dislike most fleshlings in person.

Methinks thou art just pretending, Sirrah! (To dislike fleshlings, that is).

bobman1235

MrNightly wrote: »

To say someone is a 13 year old girl for texting is just silly to me. I can communicate EXTREMELY well using complete sentences and words on text message and it's a great technology.

Why is dialing a person and making a phone call a better way to communicate? I think what we have is a bunch of old men who aren't up on the modern way of life posting in this forum!

The 13 year old girl comment was a) mostly a joke, but b) had nothing to do with grammar, just with attitude. It doesn't matter how well you think you communicate, just spending that much time typing short messages to people is a gigantic waste of an adult life. I've said a bunch of times I use texts plenty, probably a hundred or so a month, but I use them for what they're for, quick communication, not entire meaningless conversations spending half my life with my face buried in the phone. And I'm 28, not old by any stretch, and am very in touch with all modern technology (am in fact a compter engineer). I own an iPhone for Christ's sake.

Also, verbal conversation is demonstrably "better" than textual in whatever form. There is inflection and subtlety in vocal communication that you will never get with textual. Just like in person is better than over the phone, because of all the non-verbal cues people use. It's not something that's really debatable; you may PREFER texting but it's an inferior method of communication to the extent that you use it. It's a useful tool but it should not supplant actual human interaction.

Twenty years ago, people called people stupid for thinking about having a phone in your car... who would ever need to have a phone in the car? It rings enough at the house, we leave to get away from it. My folks turned down owning air space in Dallas, TX 20 years ago, because they thought that nobody would ever want mobile phones! Man, did they miss the boat on that one?!?

Completely different. There's a difference between avoiding technology because you don't understand it or can't see a use for it, and criticizing an abuse and addiction to technology. I embrace texting as a medium, I denounce it as a way of life and addiction. Back to my 13-year old girl comment - it's fine for a teenager to have their face buried in their phone, as teenagers are antisocial private beings by nature. In adulthood?

whitetruk

with 3000 average a month,sometimes one message is sent to group of people.
the group can have up wards of 40 recipients,or more.
just speaking about myself.

tonyb

bobman1235 wrote: »

Your link is broken : http://tech.yahoo.com/blogs/null/114665

2500-3500 a month? Seriously, that's sad, are you a 13 year old girl?

Funny,I was thinking the same thing.Lady's don't like talking on the phone....give me a break.Tell me,when you want a raise in your salary,are you going to text your boss or talk to him/her directly?Point being,if you want something,talk to people.You want a date,pick up the phone and ask,or better yet,ask in person.I am not totally against texting,but really,3000 of them? Thats 100 a day,would you make 100 phone calls a day? So by my observations,the phone company has found a way to charge you for daily conversations you could have in person.....or a 30 second phone call,hmmm,bet they make more on the text end of it.

It's called human interaction......a skill lost on this generation.Such as a computer,which is a marvelous tool in itself,but would you not rather meet all these people here on Polk Audio,or are you content with texting them on a computer?? Maybe your not a people person,I dunno,in that case,texting works for you.But technology can never give you the info you need when meeting someone and conversing face to face.

seeclear

{I admit I did not read every message in this thread, so I may have missed siimilar comments}

I don't see what the companies are doing wrong, unless they COLLUDED to increase prices. It seems to me that if the price is going up but VOLUME OF TEXTS is also going up, then they are just charging a fee that the market will bear. Why should they lower fees if the volume continues to increase? Why is it bad that they make money? I certainly wouldn't lower prices in my business if people were clamoring to buy my products at a higher price.

Flame away!

Kex

seeclear wrote: »

{I admit I did not read every message in this thread, so I may have missed siimilar comments}

I don't see what the companies are doing wrong, unless they COLLUDED to increase prices. It seems to me that if the price is going up but VOLUME OF TEXTS is also going up, then they are just charging a fee that the market will bear. Why should they lower fees if the volume continues to increase? Why is it bad that they make money? I certainly wouldn't lower prices in my business if people were clamoring to buy my products at a higher price.

Flame away!

No need for flames, I think, but there are some reasons I can think of which might indicate that they could actually benefit from more reasonable pricing.

Firstly, let's suppose they allowed free texting between family members on a family plan. Those members (such as myself) would no longer have the texting function turned completely off, to avoid spam; and would probably end up using paying text services to others eventually, just because they get in the habit of how useful it can be to text sometimes.

Secondly, if costs were more reasonable, more people might try it out and decide to keep using it, so the total volume of usage for the carrier might increase sufficiently to make up for lost revenue per message.

Thirdly, since it costs so little for the service provider, they could use low cost texting, or something like a limited number of free text messages per month for the loyal subscriber, as a means to reward and maintain loyalty and reduce the temptation to switch carriers.

Finally, if the recipient didn't have to pay to receive, I would probably use the service to some extent anyway, just because I would not be making people pay to receive my messages (as I said, I think that is rude).

In any case, it is always bad for the consumer's brand, or industry, perception if they think they are being taken for a ride. Eventually, in many cases, you reap what you sow, and somebody comes along to take advantage of your greedy policies and steal your customers.

Kex

Lasareath wrote: »

... I also hate people who email you the whole email text in the subject line, I have a client who does this, I respond back to her in the subject line!

LOL! I had never even heard of that practice! Sounds very silly and annoying.

avelanchefan

I text a lot, but only because I work in a hospital, and I cannot really take any phone calls while doing patient care. So my wife or kids text me when they need something, or just want to say hi.

CaligulaPolk

Text had changed deaf world big time... access to communicate via text.. 20 years ago, we were left out!!!!

I use TEXT everyday. of course, unlimited text use. I m paying 30 dollars per month for unlimited text msgs.

bobman1235

seeclear wrote: »

{I admit I did not read every message in this thread, so I may have missed siimilar comments}

I don't see what the companies are doing wrong, unless they COLLUDED to increase prices. It seems to me that if the price is going up but VOLUME OF TEXTS is also going up, then they are just charging a fee that the market will bear. Why should they lower fees if the volume continues to increase? Why is it bad that they make money? I certainly wouldn't lower prices in my business if people were clamoring to buy my products at a higher price.

Flame away!

While I normally would agree, utility companies are not generally under the same free market rules as normal companies.

tommyboy

tonyb wrote: »

Funny,I was thinking the same thing.Lady's don't like talking on the phone....give me a break.Tell me,when you want a raise in your salary,are you going to text your boss or talk to him/her directly?Point being,if you want something,talk to people.You want a date,pick up the phone and ask,or better yet,ask in person.

Your joking right... texting is not a chat room where you meet random people. They are your friends. You think if I was brave enough to get a girls number that I would have to use texting to ask her out? Texting is what some girls prefer using when having a conversation when we aren't together. That doesn't mean I never talk to them period. I don't get what your trying to say there at all.

tonyb wrote: »

I am not totally against texting,but really,3000 of them? Thats 100 a day,would you make 100 phone calls a day? So by my observations,the phone company has found a way to charge you for daily conversations you could have in person.....or a 30 second phone call,hmmm,bet they make more on the text end of it.

I have sent/recieved about 3000 texts. Which is very small if you are a quick texter and are usually done in bunches when nothing is going on. I don't sit on my **** texting all day, wouldn't have any friends if i did that.

tonyb wrote: »

It's called human interaction......a skill lost on this generation.Such as a computer,which is a marvelous tool in itself,but would you not rather meet all these people here on Polk Audio,or are you content with texting them on a computer?? Maybe your not a people person,I dunno,in that case,texting works for you.But technology can never give you the info you need when meeting someone and conversing face to face.

Yes, online forums, chat rooms, and things of that nature may do that since you never meet these people in person, but texting on your personal phone is a whole other animal. I don't hide behind texting cause i'm not a "people person", this logic is just plain ridiculous.

polktiger

I do not text, nor does my wife. I see no functional improvement over a phone call or email. So, we block all text messaging on our phones.

But, I am am wierd sort. I actually enjoy sending handwritten letters to family members.

MrNightly

bobman1235 wrote: »

The 13 year old girl comment was a) mostly a joke, but b) had nothing to do with grammar, just with attitude. It doesn't matter how well you think you communicate, just spending that much time typing short messages to people is a gigantic waste of an adult life. I've said a bunch of times I use texts plenty, probably a hundred or so a month, but I use them for what they're for, quick communication, not entire meaningless conversations spending half my life with my face buried in the phone. And I'm 28, not old by any stretch, and am very in touch with all modern technology (am in fact a compter engineer). I own an iPhone for Christ's sake.

Also, verbal conversation is demonstrably "better" than textual in whatever form. There is inflection and subtlety in vocal communication that you will never get with textual. Just like in person is better than over the phone, because of all the non-verbal cues people use. It's not something that's really debatable; you may PREFER texting but it's an inferior method of communication to the extent that you use it. It's a useful tool but it should not supplant actual human interaction.



Completely different. There's a difference between avoiding technology because you don't understand it or can't see a use for it, and criticizing an abuse and addiction to technology. I embrace texting as a medium, I denounce it as a way of life and addiction. Back to my 13-year old girl comment - it's fine for a teenager to have their face buried in their phone, as teenagers are antisocial private beings by nature. In adulthood?

No you are right... texting is much more impersonal and doesn't improve face to face communication. I don't use if for that, I use it for convenience.

But in the end, it's to each his own. As long as the person knows how to carry on an adult conversation (assuming they are an adult of course) then I have no problem with texting. If they are a blubbering fool and have to result to texting to communicate, I think their phone should be thrown in the closest lake and be permanently banned from ever having a cell phone again!

Sami

comfortablycurt wrote: »

Just call them...it's faster, easier and much more efficient.

Not necessarily. Imagine you are meeting with 20 people and you want to tell them the meeting location, or to say you'll be 10 minutes late. Type it in, select the SMS group and send. Or would you rather make 20 phone calls? What I like about SMS is that if I am in a hurry and don't have time to talk, I won't get caught in a situation where I need to hang up on someone who insists they have to say one more thing...

tommyboy

I think you guys are thinking way too much into this. If you want to flame me for 3000 texts a month go ahead but you have never met me in person have no idea how well I and others can communicate. I see it as something useful to have when I'm busy, when I am talking to more then one person, or even when I'm sitting around and decide to text someone something that may not be important enough to call.

But yeah, I guess I'm addicted and and have no verbal skills.

sucks2beme

Nothing like seeing some idiot with their two hands on the center of the
steering wheel trying to text at 60MPH on I35. I don't use it. Or IM.
There's using it, then there's compulsively using it.