Talking vs. Texting

I have come to terms with being a textaholic. I've had a cell phone for a little more than two years now, and it just keeps getting worse lol. I vaguely remember sending my first few text messages, but I'm one of the types who text freakishly fast and I reply to about 99% of the messages I receive.

Most of us don't want to socialize anymore. Why call to say hello when we can just text "hello"? Sometimes it's necessary. As busy as life gets sometimes, texting is a convenience. However, I'm starting to see the downfalls of it.

I know people who can text for days like me, but some of us are way too busy to text. Others just don't care for it. The main problem I see is keeping up an interesting conversation with certain people.

We start with simple greetings and ask about what the other person is doing. Sometimes it's hard to get past that, especially with those you just met.

Not all people are going to be lively and engaging through text messages, even though they are that way in person. Let's present the examples of two girls that I met within the past month or so.

Lisa (see the "She told me I was beautiful" entry) is a pretty cool chick to talk to in person. We check in on each other via text from time to time. Our text conversations are mostly basic, unless I just feel like presenting a random topic such as Leather and Lace (a local novelty store lol). During the past holiday break, I was trying to go see her, so I would text her concerning if she was free that day. Our deepest conversation to date occurred on the morning after club night, where we talked about anything and everything while laying next to each other. (*sigh*)

I've only known Ken for a few weeks. I met her through some friends and we hit it off pretty well. We exchanged numbers and we would text each other almost every day. That was pretty basic as well. After about a week or so, she stopped texting and I was a bit offended, but at the same time, our text conversations were superficial. I can accept that.

So most are probably thinking "Why don't you just call the girl?"

Because of my texting epidemic, I rarely call people (outside of my mom and sis). I keep in touch with most of my friends with texts and I see most of them at least once a week. I usually don't think about calling people unless I have a definite reason to ("call me" text, missed call, birthday, etc.). I'm either already with a friend or just doing something that diverts my mind from thinking about calling said person. I want to change this, especially when it comes to people I want to get to know better (friends or potential lovers) who I can't see on a regular basis.

If I had to pick between the two, I would pick talking (even though there is a time and place for texting). There's nothing better than a long phone conversation that has no bounds on topic matter. It's been too long since I've had one of those. Once the stress of school calms down, I'm determined to have a late night phone session at least once a week.

I could never quit texting, but I promise to work on creating a healthy balance for both.