Express Text Yourself!

Quote of the day: Achieving one's personal goals has never been accomplished by liking Facebook and Instagram posts or otherwise frittering away one's time. 

This is my take on the quote attributed to Annie Dillard: "How we spend our days, is, of course, how we spend our lives." I heard this quote a very long time ago and it crossed paths with something I was reading at the time by Anne Morrow Lindbergh. Only recently did I get it through my head that the quote doesn't belong to Lindbergh. I love it nonetheless. It's funny that I wanted to write "Doh!" after the first sentence above ending in Lindbergh, and put a smiley face after the second sentence above ending in Lindbergh. This tells me that texting is taking its toll on how I write even when I'm not trying to communicate quickly via cellular phone. Right now, I'm confused when I think about what it means to write outside of the digital box. Is texting a legitimate form of writing as in it requires some knowledge of the conventions of writing or command of the rules of grammar? It's easy to say "No, absolutely not!" Texting is in no way "real" writing because it does not require such knowledge. However, I'm not certain that things are so black and white. 

I was incredibly annoyed when I made my first attempts at texting, on a flip phone, back in 2007. It was painstaking to hold down number keys until the right letters appeared. Not only did it take too much time to convey my wonderfully nuanced thoughts in this manner, but also, to my mind, texting spelled the end of clear communication in a civilized society! I still maintain that now that we have emoticons, GIFs and more to communicate what we mean in place of actual words, we will soon be reduced to communicating in short, largely monosyllabic grunts and moans. :-)

I no longer detest texting, not only because it's much easier than it used to be as far as the technology is concerned, but also because everyone's doing it! It's the communication du jour. Texting elicits timely responses from the individuals with whom I am communicate. When I text, I get a response; when I leave a voicemail, not so much. Texting, however, has devolved from something I once paid real attention to in terms of proper grammar, spelling, and punctuation to something I can spit out quickly and with only a cursory regard for grammar. The latter is largely reserved for the friends and family I text most often. I suppose the sheer volume of texts I send and receive has lowered my resistance to grammatical errors. 

While I've largely lowered my standards, at least for ordinary communication via text, I have not reverted to using the talk to text function on my phone because it is notoriously prone to errors. On more than one occasion, I have been miffed by texts that make no sense or sound unintentionally sinister from others using the talk to text function. If I'm not worth the time it takes to glance at your gobbledygook before you send it, then perhaps you don't need to communicate with me at all. 

Since texting lends itself by design to short communiques, it is easy to dismiss it as a "throw away" form of communication. However, for me, texting increasingly lends itself to more heartfelt communication. I am inspired by the brevity of the format to express my feelings in a single text, 160 characters or less, or a couple of texts in succession. (It should be noted here that I've tried, but have not been enamored with Twitter for this purpose). Sure, a heartfelt text does not replace a face-to-face, heart-to-heart conversation, but it does often start such a conversation. I express my feelings and thoughts to a friend via text, and, seconds later, either that person calls me or I stop, drop and pick up the phone to call that person. The text, therefore, functions as a build up or gateway to a more personal connection. For me, this is a breakthrough. 

My tendency has been to think big when I want to express myself. What comes to mind when I want to to show my gratitude for what someone has done or said or simply for that person's presence in my life is usually a big production. I plan to write a letter or a card that perfectly captures my feelings and thoughts about the object of my desire, to deliver flowers or some other nonsense. That card or letter never gets written. Those flowers are never purchased. Now, I give myself permission to text my feelings. I have concluded that is better to express myself, however briefly, than to add to my never-ending to-do list. For this realization, I am very grateful!