How Do You Text?

Texting is a phenomenon of this generation that is a revolutionary route of communication that many take for granted.

The minute that phone buzzes, you grab it. You browse through the drop-down panel, checking for updates and notifications, but most importantly, those private text messages.

The immediacy and instant gratification is so pleasing about the world of media. Fast, faster, fastest communication is what draws people in these days.

Justin Baker (‘15) claims he is not a hefty texter.

“I’d say I would text a good amount, not like to classify myself as a constant texter, but not less enough to say that I don’t do it at all,” he explains. “I mean when it’s needed or when you know, someone texts me I’ll get back to them and have a conversation.”

Conversely, Kira McKechnie (‘15) finds herself texting a lot of the time.

“I’m always texting someone,” she said.

Some things to keep in mind while texting that might frustrate or annoy other people are pretty simple to avoid, it is just a matter of thinking about them.

“I get a strong anger when I text someone and then they don’t respond to me in a somewhat timely fashion,” Justin declared. “I‘m not just sitting by my phone waiting for them to text, but if it’s important and they don’t text me back, I get a little annoyed.”

Kira finds unreciprocated texting to be obnoxious. “Texting that person a bunch of times, like if they don’t respond right away, like triple texting, its really wierd.

“One thing is when people are really short with me,” Kira explained. “And when they seem like they are not very into the conversation.”

Most people can attest to disliking this. Even though sometimes people are short with their texts, at the other end of the spectrum is emojis. Emojis are visual expressions in a little circle.

“I tend to use emojis a lot,” Justin said. “I’m always a huge user of the side smirk. I love the side smirk. It gets a lot of points across. Its very silly.” What’s texting without a little bit of flavor?

“I really like using emojis,” Kira expressed. “I feel like they make it more exciting in a way, and more emotional. My favorite is the laughing crying face.”

Sometimes the most enjoyable conversations are not even through words, but images with funny memes or captions. The point being that the conversation is equal.

Justin immediately thought of his brother. “We tend not even to text about general information. We just send funny pictures back and forth.”

Because of the slang of this generation, there is sometimes a language barrier.

“I’m seeing a lot of shorter words,” Justin expressed. He noted “smh,” shaking my head and “RT,” re-tweets. But he added that since he is not a constant texter, it takes a couple seconds for him to process what they are saying.

This disconnect can be rather frustrating at times, because everyone else knows what a certain abbreviation means, while said individual is left desperately trying to understand the context

Why is everyone laughing? Did I do something? Is there something on my face? Oh lord, I bet there is something in my teeth.

No worries, below is a list of commonly used phrases that might help in understanding the text world. Of course, there are the phrases that everyone uses: omg, lol, jk, brb, gtg, wbu, hmu, etc. (pun not intended).

ILY: “I love you”

TBH: “To be honest”

XME: “Excuse me”

ROFL: “Rolling on the floor laughing”

UGTBK: “You’ve got to be kidding”

JFF: “Just for fun”

“SLAP,” contrary to what the word means, the abbreviation actually means “sounds like a plan.” It is quite apparent how, a person who is not deeply involved in texting would have no clue as to what that phrase actually means.

These are just a few of the infinite number of abbreviations in the text language. But another large part of texting is the idea of punctuation.

“I am a huge proponent of periods WHEN needed, and understanding when periods are used,” Justin explained.

He reflected on a time when he was in his room and he got a text from his mom saying, “Please come here…” Emphasis on the “…”

“I then proceeded to sprint to my mother’s room thinking that she was bleeding out on the floor,” he described enthusiastically, “but then it was simply her just wanting to watch a news segment with me. So, know when to use periods because they can be mislead.”

Periods do have their importance in punctuation, but Kira also finds a different meaning in their connotation.

“Periods, I feel like, make it a lot more serious,” Kira expressed. “It’s like ‘whoa…just kind of changed levels there.”

Needless to say, punctuation is an attention grabber.

Whether your inbox is overflowing or you do not touch your phone at all, texting is an important form of communication at CB.