#57 TXT U L8R

I am a dinosaur. I do not own a cell phone, so I've never had occasion to send a text message. A while ago I heard on the news that phone companies make more money on text messages than on phone calls. They certainly made a lot of money off Sofia Rubenstein....or rather her parents. Last month the 17 year old high school junior sent 6,807 messages, which resulted in her family receiving a wireless bill in excess of $1,100 for the month!

When the Texas Gulf Coast was devastated by hurricane Ike, people in this area were extremely thankful for texting. With spotty access to electricity and heavy cell phone use overwhelming available lines, text messaging enabled at least limited communication. In emergencies and natural disasters, hearing an actual human voice probably would have been preferable, but lacking that option, texting meant the world to many families trying to find out if their loved ones were safe.

I borrowed a coworker's cell phone to try and send a message. It was confusing. I think if I ever get my own cell phone I would become comfortable with the process fairly quickly. I'm already familiar with some of the SMS slang from visiting on line chat rooms and message boards, tyvm. Lingo2word.com looked like a good site for staying current with popular shortcuts. OnlineTextMessage.com and txt2day.com allow you to send a free text message to a mobile phone from your computer. You have to take the filters off the library computers for it to work.

According to Paul Saffo, a technology trend forecaster in Silicon Valley, "the act of texting automatically removes 10 I.Q. points". Last year the American College of Emergency Physicians warned that they are seeing many serious accidents involving oblivious texters. The ER doctors cited reports from doctors around the country of injuries involving text-messaging pedestrians, bicyclists, even cooking accidents. Most of the injuries "involved scrapes, cuts and sprains from texters who walked into lampposts or walls or tripped over curbs". Distractions as brief as 2 seconds can cause accidents or near misses while driving a car, according to a 2006 report by the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration and the Virginia Tech Transportation Institute. I agree with the California Public Utilities Commission temporary ban on the use of all mobile devices by anyone at the controls of a moving train, and think texting should be prohibited while driving an automobile as well.