Texting

[I8DaCookie]

Just saw for the hundredth time the newest AT&T commericial where the family was playing scrabble and the girl uses a texting shortcut.

Drives me crazy! I never text. I have only one friend who texts me and I tell her every time, I don't have a text plan, call me!

I also rag on my sister and brother about it whenever I stop by my parent's house. They're only in middle school. These commercials have made me even more determined that my children will not have a cell phone until HS. And when I do provide them with one, it'll be a pay as you go plan until they can afford to pay for it themselves.

[Boozy]

I rarely make phone calls; I only text.

I get unlimited texting for $10 a month. Phone usage rates are through the roof. Even my technologically-challenged parents use texting instead of calls now.

[chops]

For me, it's not texting itself but its side effects.

First, there's the shortcuts that the OP mentioned. While I wouldn't mind so much if they only were used only while texting, they've spread out beyond texting into chat, forums, and even schools. (http://www.dailymail.co.uk/pages/live/articles/news/news.html?in_article_id=413866&in_page_id=1770) I think the English language is headed directly for the toilet as a result.

Second is the growing trend of texting while driving. Suddenly the people who have their phones pressed against their ears don't seem as bad anymore.

[Norton]

I personally find it annoying. It's tedious and time consuming for me to text people from my phone. I'm the kind of person who only uses the phone when I have something specific to say to someone. Speaking with that person over the phone is far simpler and faster for me than texting.

I can see where texting would come in handy for other people, but it just doesn't suit my needs.

What I really dislike about texting is what I dislike about cell phones in general, and that's people's utter dependency on them. Are people so afraid of being alone that they constantly need to be in contact with their friends? It seems unhealthy to me.

As an aside to those people who think it's ok to text in movie theaters because it's quiet - the light from your phone is just as annoying as the sound.

[powerboy]

I always have my cell with me. I only use it, when I need too. I for one, do not need to be on the phone 24/7. I will text, when I am not able to talk.

[DesignFox]

I mainly use the texting when I am unable to hold a conversation, or if I need to get out a quick message.

I never text while driving- that's plain dangerous.

My state has enacted primary offense laws for talking without a hands free device or for texting while driving, so...dangerous people beware!

I think it's pretty lame that these kids have such long text message discussions...If I want to really talk to someone, I'd feel better picking up the phone and talking!

I've seen kids rack up some bills on their poor parents...

[blas87]

I don't have a texting plan. I don't want one. I've posted numerous times on here and CS.com about how much people doing it pisses me off.

The worst is people I don't know texting me. I'm not sure if they have the wrong number or if they are someone who knows me........people who don't stop it are the worst.

A friend and I had a falling out, she knew about me not having a plan, and she proceeded to text me over 100 messages in one day......that was not a pretty bill.

Oh and the best part? I asked my dad to cancel texting. He said he would, but it's in my mom's name. So I asked her......she said "No, just tell them to stop."

Yes, because every time I tell someone to stop, they do it MORE.

And yet every month I still have to shell out $5-$15 extra for texts I don't want

[tropicsgoddess]

That AT&T texting commercial is proof of how the English language is going down the tubes. Once in a while I text, but not every hour/minute/second/day. Jeez.

[AFPheonix]

I use it occasionally, it's handy when I need a quick answer, need something to be recorded like a phone number or address or something like that for later and don't have something to write with, or are in an area where cell coverage is bad enough that a phone conversation would be nigh impossible to understand but a text message is still quite readable. Really handy if I'm out on a trail ride out in buttfuck nowhere, I only get a few patches of weak coverage, and need to know where someone is (been there, done that)

[Peppergirl]

My teenagers got me started on it and now i text everyone. Kind of embarassing at my age, but it comes in handy at work. ;)

I work in a call center and between calls I can text away and no one knows im actually holding conversations like they would if I was chatting verbally. ;)

[DesignFox]

Blas, I work with phones. I don't know what provider you have, but most will completely block the messages, and if you don't have the cash floating around to pay for shit you don't want, you should really get on your mom's case to cancel the text service.

You can completely block messages- it doesn't cost a penny.

Also, some shady ass companies are starting to use text messages as a form of telemarketing. It is ILLEGAL. But there isn't a way to trace them, so they are doing it, anyway. And yes, you get to pay for those messages.

Some of those messages you don't want may be coming from sources like that. :(

The only thing I don't like is the damn chain messages. My co-worker gets a lot of those and passes them along... chain mail... text messages! *shakes head*

[Shangri-laschild]

I'm allowed to text and make personal calls at work. Only thing though, is if I get a call here, I have to drop my personal call to answer the work one. While this would interupt my phone call, it doesn't interupt my texting. Sometimes I can't talk on the phone but I need to let someone know something. Also, if my friend needs to get a message to me, he knows he can text me without waking me up and I'll get it first thing. I can text him and if he's sleeping for work, there's no problem and he doesn't get grumpy. It's a nice way to figure out if he's up.

That being said, if my friends don't have plans, I don't text them. I can see how it would be irritating when someone texts you if you tell them not to. I had a friend though who I could not understand at all on the phone (wasn't a problem in person though) so instead of getting confused or hurting her feelings I would text her.

For a long converstation it can suck but for short stuff I still prefer it.

[anriana]

I work in a call center and between calls I can text away and no one knows im actually holding conversations like they would if I was chatting verbally. ;)

This is why I text. I got a phone with a sliding QWERTY keyboard for free and unlimited texting for $10/month so I can text my friends and we aren't limited to discussions I'm comfortable sending over my corporate email. I don't think there's any reason to abbreviate when you have a mini keyboard and I yell at them when they use text words.

[JuniorMintz]

I text message all the time and I don't give a damn what anyone thinks about me for doing it. Unlimited texting is fairly cheap on my plan, so when I want to talk to my friend Ben/Fashion Lad from CS, we text. I'm in California and he's in Minnesota- can you imagine the phone bills if we just called each other?

I never use my phone in an inappropriate setting, like at the movies or at the front desk at work. Other than that, I don't care what anyone thinks of me. Texting is convenient so I do it. :)

[FashionLad]

I must agree with JAM. I can get a lot more said texting than I can with an actual phone coversation. And since my unlimited texting is $5 a month, I can keep my phone bill pretty cheap.

I don't text in theatres, during performances or when I'm supposed to actually be interacting with someone. I try and be polite. I wish others would do the same and not judge me for texting rather than talking on the phone.

[DesignFox]

I don't text in theatres, during performances or when I'm supposed to actually be interacting with someone. I try and be polite. I wish others would do the same and not judge me for texting rather than talking on the phone.

This sentiment I can agree with. :)

[Bloodsoul]

Closest I've come to a texting-like environment was from playing Mortal Kombat: Armageddon online.. annoying as all get out. Well, it wasn't that difficult to type out coherent sentences, but still annoying.

[RecoveringKinkoid]

Last time I was visiting my brother and sister in law and their family, their 12 year old spent the entire weekend texting, like the phone was part of her hand or something.

If I'd been her parent, I'd have thrown that damn phone into rush hour traffic.

[Kaylyn]

Also, some shady ass companies are starting to use text messages as a form of telemarketing. It is ILLEGAL. But there isn't a way to trace them, so they are doing it, anyway. And yes, you get to pay for those messages.

I know this thread is a bit old, but does anyone know how to stop these messages? I get them all the time on my AT&T phone...I've called repeatedly and they say, "Oh, well, we have no way of blocking texts from any individual source." They're all coming from EMAIL (36245) and they're all apparently Asian porn companies (my best guess due to the broken english they're sent in). I'm going to be changing service as soon as I can because AT&T has very poor coverage in the area I moved to, so hopefully Alltel won't be as bad. Thing is, I don't know how they got my number, I never give my cell out....

[DesignFox]

Kaylyn-

Depending on how the messages started coming, some companies make you text them back with the words "opt out" to get the messaging to stop.

In your case, I'd probably be hesitant about that, seeing as you don't know the source of the messages.

I'm surprised that AT&T can't block them since you seem to have the address they are coming from...I know that certain phone numbers CAN be blocked from calling or sending messages...(parental controls)

If you do not use email service on your phone, you could also try just having the email service blocked- friends of mine who have Verizon have done that- they can text message, but all email messages are blocked (he was having a problem similiar to the one you are having).

I guess it doesn't matter, since you don't get service in the area you are in and are switching anyway...but if you have to deal with this issue again (and you might if this porn company has your phone number and you choose to keep that number when you switch services) those are two options I can think of that may resolve it.

Personally, I text up a storm, so I'm on an unlimited plan. I don't have to pay anything extra if I end up with spam. Thankfully, that only happened to me once. I think I'd go insane too if it happened everyday. I'd certainly want to do something about it...

I wish we could track these companies down and sue the shit out of them, personally, but I know they won't get caught...:mad:

[Kaylyn]

Yeah, I've asked them repeatedly to find out some way to stop it. Thing is, I really don't have the address it's coming from...36245 spells EMAIL on the letter pad, and when I reply with STOP or other key phrases that they said would trigger the automated program to stop with the texts, it immediately bounces back. I've tried extracting the email address and replying directly to it...again, it bounces. The wireless company acts like they've never had this happen before (and I know for a fact it's a very widespread problem with them) and say that they can't just block emailed texts, they'd have to cancel text messaging completely. I find it really dumb that just about every other major wireless company has a way around the problem, but mine is being so stubborn. They can't get it through their heads that 99% of the time spammers are gonna use fake email addresses...they keep insisting I give them the email address so they can 'research' it. I tell them it's spoofed, they say, "Well, that doesn't matter, we still need it."

It's tapered off quite a bit...I think it has a lot to do with putting my cell on the do not call list. I get them occasionally but not enough to make me want to throw my phone out the window anymore. It sucked before because I use my cell phone as my alarm clock and I didn't want to turn off my text ringer because I didn't want to miss potentially important messages. Now it's not as important, so if it got bad again (try about 10 3-part messages PER NIGHT, in the wee hours) I could turn the alert off. But I have to pay for all those messages over my limit, y'know? It was like pulling teeth to get them to refund the charges...though I tried to be polite about it, even though I didn't understand why they couldn't just block emailed texts...

[DesignFox]

That's really weird Kaylyn. And it surprises me. I'm glad it seems to have tapered off at least.

The only thing I can think of is that the company spamming you keeps spamming you from different addresses...that would be practically impossible to keep up with! :(

Oh well...good luck, anyway!