Nicole posts a lot of funny articles, frequently titled "10 Reasons (fill in the blank) Make Me Nervous"...such as "10 Reasons Lying Makes Me Nervous" or "10 Reasons Road Trips Make Me Nervous." I'm stealing her latest post, "10 Reasons Texting Makes Me Nervous"...because they're funny and all true. I shall attempt to make witty comments along the way, which you won't be able to miss due to their being highlighted.
1. Understanding Tone Via Text
It’s so hard to convey tone through text. It’s easier when you know someone and can intuit the meaning based on what you know of their personality and speech patterns. However, if I don’t know a person well and he or she sends a short text without punctuation, I will spend hours analyzing it. A simple, “fine” can be read as either: “Great, that’s fine!” or “Fine, whatever, I hate you.” Sometimes it’s so hard to tell and too awkward to ask.
This one is VERY true. It can be really hard to guess tone in a text. I've learned to assume it's positive, unless I have reason to think otherwise The tone problem is another reason why one word responses are less than desirable, because you really can't tell tone from "fine" or "k", which isn't even a real word!
This one is VERY true. It can be really hard to guess tone in a text. I've learned to assume it's positive, unless I have reason to think otherwise The tone problem is another reason why one word responses are less than desirable, because you really can't tell tone from "fine" or "k", which isn't even a real word!
2. Overcompensating My Tone
As someone who struggles to understand the tone of others via text, I am very self-conscious when writing my own texts. I don’t want to be perceived as rude or disinterested, so I usually end up overcompensating by abusing exclamation points, emoticons and emojis. It’s absurd. If I actually spoke the way I text, I would sound like an over-caffeinated cheerleader always exclaiming things and laughing out loud!!! hahaha lmao ; )
This one is also true. While I try not to sound like a hyper-happy teenager, I do tend to stick a smilie emoticon after almost everything, to convey my good intent. :)
This one is also true. While I try not to sound like a hyper-happy teenager, I do tend to stick a smilie emoticon after almost everything, to convey my good intent. :)
3. Autocorrect
Autocorrect is both my best friend and my worst enemy. It makes it easier to send texts on the fly, but I always run the risk of a major Autocorrect fail if I don’t proof before hitting Send. Teaching Autocorrect all my slang and abbrevs is like owning a Furby all over again, except in this case I can’t quit after a week and give Autocorrect to the dog as a chew toy.I literally laughed out loud when I read this one. I like Nicole...she's funny. :) Anyway, I rarely suffer from autocorrect fails (thank God), mostly because I don't use autocorrect, due to the epic fails. I've seen some amazing examples though...I remember a couple of years ago texting my brother something about the Muppets and it wanting to change it to"Blaggards" or something ridiculously inappropriate like that. The options offered by my current phone are at least reasonable, one being "My poets." At least I can justify that one!
4. Group Texts
Again, like Autocorrect, there are pros and cons to group texting. On the pro side, I can easily get a message out to all my friends at once, making it easier to plan group activities and spread time-sensitive info (gossip). On the con side, sometimes I’m included on group threads I don’t need to be a part of and I spend the entire night clearing texts from my phone that don’t pertain to me, which can make me hate all of my friends and want to smash my phone. There’s also the issue of accidentally texting a group thread when I mean to text an individual person and creating some drama. One time my mother sent me a text saying, “Is she texting you too? She is making me crazy.” referring to my sister who was both on the text chain and sitting three feet from her. Mom learned a very important lesson about group texts that day.Group texts tend to confuse me, because I inevitably get lumped in with people I don't know, so when they reply (which is reply all), I'm getting a text from a number I don't recognize. My current phone now lumps conversations together, so at least I know why I'm getting the text. Previously my inbox was separated out and so it would look like I'm getting an independent text from someone saying "aw cute!" or "That's really great" or some such nonsense and it would take me a minute to figure out it was in reply to the picture I'd received 3 hours ago from a friend I now wanted to kick.
5. Decoding the Crazy
The texts I receive from some of my friends read like partially solved Wheel of Fortune puzzles, hardly any vowels and rarely a complete word. On the other hand, my mother can’t see her screen properly, so her texts are typically just jumbled letters and autocorrect fails. It’s hard to have a conversation with someone when you’re asking, “What?” after each text, so I usually spend a significant amount of time trying to decode their madness. Sometimes it’s fun, like Da Vinci Code, but sometimes it’s frustrating, like Angels & Demons.
Haha...ooh translating texts. It could be a profession! :) I have to say I'm usually pretty good at it. Having a poor autocorrect system must be a mother's curse, because I've gotten some doozies from my mom. Thank goodness our new phones are better, because when her last phone was dying, her texts because a game of "how differently did she mean this from what it actually says."
Hi mom. :D
Haha...ooh translating texts. It could be a profession! :) I have to say I'm usually pretty good at it. Having a poor autocorrect system must be a mother's curse, because I've gotten some doozies from my mom. Thank goodness our new phones are better, because when her last phone was dying, her texts because a game of "how differently did she mean this from what it actually says."
Hi mom. :D
I sent my friend a really ridiculous text one night. The next day she told me that when she received the text, her boyfriend was the one to open it and read it. Um… no! The text in question was relatively harmless, but what if it wasn’t? What if it was something deeply personal meant for my friend and her boyfriend just went ahead and read it? There are friendship codes that need to be respected! I hate knowing that other people might be reading my conversations. It’s such a major violation.
I have worried about this, but thankfully I've never had it come back to bite me (that I can recall). I figure a safe rule of thumb is "never put anything in writing that you wouldn't want everyone to see." Not that I always follow this rule...but it's still something smart to try and follow.
I have worried about this, but thankfully I've never had it come back to bite me (that I can recall). I figure a safe rule of thumb is "never put anything in writing that you wouldn't want everyone to see." Not that I always follow this rule...but it's still something smart to try and follow.
7. Drunk Texting and Sleep Texting
Whenever a text is sent without all cylinders firing, bad things are bound to happen. If you’re texting someone while intoxicated, you’re not using the part of your brain that processes consequences. Yeah, there’s that whole, “the truth comes out when you’re drunk” theory, but so do insecurities, fear and stupidity. As for sleep texting, I can’t even count how many times I’ve read and/or responded to texts while half asleep and completely forgotten about it by morning. I’m always nervous that I’m going to send or receive texts in an altered state and create unnecessary drama.
Again, have never suffered from this (thank God)...mostly due to good friends and the ability to sleep through anything, including incoming texts. Ooh wait...to be fair, I have sent "tipsy texts," but those are just funny because when I'm tipsy, everything is funny. :) Also, I guess the picture's not really an example of a drunk text...but I find it humorous and am including it anyway. :)
8. Texting While Walking
I’m an idiot and often attempt to text while walking. Never while near streets or parking lots where I could be struck by a vehicle, but like walking to the bathroom at work or strolling through Target. I know I shouldn’t text while walking, but sometimes it’s just so convenient to communicate on the move. While I’m pretty skilled at multitasking, I still fear things like walking into someone, tripping on something and walking past Ryan Gosling and not realizing it. The easy fix here is: don’t text while walking. If only I were that wise.My gait tends to slow down progressively when I try to text and walk, until I come to an eventual halt...which if I were watching me would think looked really funny. :)
9. Texting While Driving
Not to get all PSA here, but just don’t. You’re going to kill someone and I’m really fearful it will be me or someone I care about. For realsies, it’s just not worth it. Put the phone away, roll down your windows and sing some Taylor Swift.
Amen. No text is that important.
Amen. No text is that important.
10. If You Don’t Text Me Back Immediately, I Will Assume You’re Dead or Hate Me
I know you well enough to know that your phone is constantly glued to your hand. If I send you a text, you probably read it right away. Therefore, if you don’t respond immediately, I am left with two conclusions: you’re dead or you hate me. You either died before receiving my text or you read my text and then died before having a chance to respond. Or, you just hate me. I’ve done something to offend you and you never want to see or hear from me again. I replay every recent conversation we’ve had and try to figure out what exactly I could have done to offend you. I check the news for word of car accidents and natural disasters. Just as I’m going through every awful possibility of why you didn’t text me back, you respond saying your phone was dead and you’d love to hang out. Ahhhh, dead phone, of course, why didn’t I think of that?
Damn it, I admit to suffering from this one occasionally. I'm a lot better than I used to be, though. It helps that I've had personal experience with texts getting lost in cyberspace, one not arriving until two days after it was originally sent!
Damn it, I admit to suffering from this one occasionally. I'm a lot better than I used to be, though. It helps that I've had personal experience with texts getting lost in cyberspace, one not arriving until two days after it was originally sent!
Enjoy and happy texting! :)
~ Katie
This made me smile :)
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