I'm a texter. I have a text plan. But only 200 texts. Sometimes I go over, but it's rare.
I think I really appreciated texts in college when friends and I would text during class (not intended to disrupt class) with the occasional "hey wanna meet up for lunch at ____" just so you get a heads up as you leave class. That was very useful.
But today I went snowboarding with a bunch of friends. Some of my friends split up. The friend I was with wanted to know where they were around lunchtime, so she texted them. That's fine. You usually are going down runs and what not that calling is not the most effective.
The reply came that they were at the top of the mountain near the cafe going to grab food.
At this point the logical thing to do is to call. We're there to rest and eat also. Instead, she texts back saying we're there too. I ask "why don't you call and let's just find out where they are?" So instead they waste a few texts back and forth (obviously this isn't IM. texts go a little slower due to response time and typing time and the mere fact that people aren't actively glued to their phones 24/7) and with these responses after like 10 minutes finally find out which dining area they're sitting at (it's not a stadium either, there's only several rooms where you can eat at, but it was good to know which room). Unfortunately, it's a large dining room, so I ask her to just call and find out what corner, what table, WTF they're wearing because it's a large group of friends and we don't really know EVERYONE in the group that well. Instead my friend walks around and checks out table after table till we find the people we're looking for. It was literally the last table, and this probably took 5 minutes because it was crowded inside and we had to squeeze by the hundreds of people waiting for tables, waiting to buy food, etc. What's wrong with calling again?
Another scenario:
My friends were hanging out, and as you know there are friends of friends and cliques and what not.
Group decides to split, and one group goes shopping at some place. My group wonders where they are and one of the girls sends a text, because we're ready to LEAVE.
Response is they are at some store.
My group (led by the girls) decides to slowly meander there. Girls like to shop as they go, so it's not like men walking from A to B at a mall. They take a solid 20 minutes to reach that store, and by then the other group has left that store.
So naturally what do people do? They lounge around this store we were told they were at 20 minutes ago hoping they will show up.
I ask "Why don't we just call them and ask them where they are at this instant and tell them we're at ______ store and we should just meet at _____."
I get a response like "Why don't you do that?" I don't really care about the other group because they aren't my direct close friends so I didn't take it upon myself to fix the situation (I didn't want to be the guy calling some other people I just met for the day and telling them to meet up at _____ if their close friends couldn't even do that). So instead someone in our group sends out another text asking where the other group is at. We walk around the mall aimlessly (not even really shopping) till we finally randomly bump into the other group and finally leave. We probably wasted 45 minutes doing so. A simple phone call would've helped us meet up in no time. But I suppose women enjoy their shopping so lounging around is perfectly fine for them.
Cliffs:
- I have no troblem with texting. I use it myself, but I think some people use it excessively.
- People insist on texting over calling.
- My question is why can't people just fvcking call. It's about 20x more effective for meetups, event planning, etc.
I think I really appreciated texts in college when friends and I would text during class (not intended to disrupt class) with the occasional "hey wanna meet up for lunch at ____" just so you get a heads up as you leave class. That was very useful.
But today I went snowboarding with a bunch of friends. Some of my friends split up. The friend I was with wanted to know where they were around lunchtime, so she texted them. That's fine. You usually are going down runs and what not that calling is not the most effective.
The reply came that they were at the top of the mountain near the cafe going to grab food.
At this point the logical thing to do is to call. We're there to rest and eat also. Instead, she texts back saying we're there too. I ask "why don't you call and let's just find out where they are?" So instead they waste a few texts back and forth (obviously this isn't IM. texts go a little slower due to response time and typing time and the mere fact that people aren't actively glued to their phones 24/7) and with these responses after like 10 minutes finally find out which dining area they're sitting at (it's not a stadium either, there's only several rooms where you can eat at, but it was good to know which room). Unfortunately, it's a large dining room, so I ask her to just call and find out what corner, what table, WTF they're wearing because it's a large group of friends and we don't really know EVERYONE in the group that well. Instead my friend walks around and checks out table after table till we find the people we're looking for. It was literally the last table, and this probably took 5 minutes because it was crowded inside and we had to squeeze by the hundreds of people waiting for tables, waiting to buy food, etc. What's wrong with calling again?
Another scenario:
My friends were hanging out, and as you know there are friends of friends and cliques and what not.
Group decides to split, and one group goes shopping at some place. My group wonders where they are and one of the girls sends a text, because we're ready to LEAVE.
Response is they are at some store.
My group (led by the girls) decides to slowly meander there. Girls like to shop as they go, so it's not like men walking from A to B at a mall. They take a solid 20 minutes to reach that store, and by then the other group has left that store.
So naturally what do people do? They lounge around this store we were told they were at 20 minutes ago hoping they will show up.
I ask "Why don't we just call them and ask them where they are at this instant and tell them we're at ______ store and we should just meet at _____."
I get a response like "Why don't you do that?" I don't really care about the other group because they aren't my direct close friends so I didn't take it upon myself to fix the situation (I didn't want to be the guy calling some other people I just met for the day and telling them to meet up at _____ if their close friends couldn't even do that). So instead someone in our group sends out another text asking where the other group is at. We walk around the mall aimlessly (not even really shopping) till we finally randomly bump into the other group and finally leave. We probably wasted 45 minutes doing so. A simple phone call would've helped us meet up in no time. But I suppose women enjoy their shopping so lounging around is perfectly fine for them.
Cliffs:
- I have no troblem with texting. I use it myself, but I think some people use it excessively.
- People insist on texting over calling.
- My question is why can't people just fvcking call. It's about 20x more effective for meetups, event planning, etc.
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