Deborah Jackson

Texting is NOT communication



Posted: Monday, July 25, 2011

by Deborah Jackson
The Organic Garden

This is just ridiculous. The last few days have taught me a lot about myself. Today I have come to the conclusion, that I absolutely and categorically hate texting.

I love language and words. I love the way you can string them together and come up with a coherent thought. I love writing them and as I write feeling things like anger and laughter and sadness and joy. I love reading them and feeling the emotions of the author; the fear, the danger, the adventure of the experience they are describing. I love thinking in words, like pictures of the brain. Each word draws a different scene, sometimes a totally different picture, sometimes just a shade.

It is our ability to use words, to think those pictures, to express ourselves so that others can catch those subtle changes of thought that make us human. I often think that it was our ability to question and express those questions in words that is the original sin. Our ability to think beyond reality and express it so that others can understand it was the process by which we began to question the existence of God and the universe. Words got us thrown out of Eden.

And now we TEXT. Little short non descriptive sentences. Grunts. This is what is passing for communication these days. We walk around with the latest and greatest in technology taped to our hips or ears and we GRUNT. We can't even be bothered to talk.

Brkn hnd call more info, do u hve chr?, 10Q, BFF

Smiley faces and LOL are not my ideas of communicating. Sure, they convey a thought, but did you really laugh out loud or are you just sitting there with a little smile on your face? Are you rolling on the floor with tears running down your face, unable to get air into your lungs or did you smile and move on to the next item on your list of things to do?

I have to figure out why people are texting. It's much easier to talk, to use words, to use the gifts of language we have been given. Have we morphed into a society that no longer wants to express themselves. Do we no longer question things or see beauty and feel a need to show others? Do we feel that sadness or tears are something to keep inside instead of sharing and releasing the pain felt? Is everyday so mundane that a few grunts can serve as communication? Not for me and I hope not for you.
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Top-level comments on this article: (1 total)
» left by The Old Gray Mare
 295 days 4 hours ago.
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This is so true! Texting - I cannot for the life of me understand the draw that texting has so that people are even endangering themselves while driving the car. Definitely not for me. Might be showing my age. No matter. I don't speak in grunts and don't think that way either. I like to express myself. Fine article!
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