Recreational Texting and My First Text Epiphany

Has your texting increased during the Pandemic? The husband complains, I mean notices that I am in text mode most of the day. The Pandemic offers numerous opportunities to find stay-at-home leisure activities, and recreational texting is high on my list.

Texting is a skill, and not everyone is a good texter. I don’t only mean typos, although that is a huge problem with some folks—especially those of a particular age group. Ok, typos are a huge problem for me – I am that lady in the hilarious commercial who uses a speakerphone.  Except I am regularly using it to text. My second text typically is: “dictation sucks- this is what I meant to say.”  

Why is dictating the message and then apologizing easier than just using my index finger to relay my thoughts? OOOPS, also a problem- need to remember to use both thumbs…Damn, this is hard. I recently read that how you text can reveal your age. Thumbs vs. index finger is a dead giveaway.

And while we are chatting about texting, for the record, sarcasm does not bode well in text. I am continually rereading texts from sarcastic writers, asking myself, what did he or she mean by that? Am I taking this too seriously? Yes, I spend way too much time dictating and retyping using one index finger and analyzing others’ texts. But it’s a pandemic; what else is there to do?

Mitch and I text even when we are in the same house at the same time. Do you text your spouse or partner from different rooms in the house? Is this what this has become?

Lower the TV!

Did you walk the dogs?

Hey, are you home?

Maybe our 30-something kids do this, but we are in our 60s? Am I too lazy to walk into another room? Walk down or up the stairs? Think we are cool retirees using text as communication? Maybe all the above. I also believe that quarantining with the same person for a year leads to a lot of shorthand conversation.  

VICKIE VOICE FREQUENCY Hearing Loss

Another reason could be Mitch’s VICKIE VOICE FREQUENCY hearing loss. Yes, a physician told him that the range of his hearing loss coincided with my voice pitch. I even wrote a blog about that. I think it’s too late for me to learn to lower my voice or change my voice consistently, so perhaps texting is the right solution!

A TEXTING EPIPHANY

I remember the first time I texted instead of whispered, and it was a bit of an epiphany for me. Way back in 2002 or so, my youngest daughter Carly, now a married mother of two, and I were in Vermont skiing with my brother Keith and nephew Corey. It was dark, and my brother was driving us to dinner on the icy roads. I was focusing on my imaginary brake from the passenger seat when suddenly, my phone pings. 

I check the phone, and it is Carly from the back seat text-whispering a new conversation to me. She needed something from the drugstore, and she didn’t want to share the news with the boys in the car. That was a whole new concept in texting! She and I were having a conversation while I was in the car with other people.

Recreational Texting

I think that may have been the beginning of Recreational Texting for me – It’s all gone downhill from there.

Maybe Mitch is right, and I need to get out of text mode before it’s too late. 😊

PS- Thank you to everyone who attended the talk about my upcoming book, Raising Jess: A Story of Hope. IF you missed it and want to see it on YouTube, please click this link.

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