The world of texting

LOL. JK. OMG. BRB. BTW. TTYL. BZ. If you have a hard time deciphering the before mentioned abbreviations it may just mean you're not accustomed to the world of texting. The English language has drastically been reduced to a series of short phrases and misspelled words to allow texters the freedom to use less space and to quickly send off a message in 2.4 seconds.

In the last year a large part of my communication on the phone has switched to texting. The recent phone I purchased reflects this decision. I now am outfitted with a QWERTY keyboard to make typing out text messages simpler and (hopefully) faster. I do, however, have mixed feelings over it all.

I enjoy the convenience of sending off a quick message that requires no follow-up, but then I sacrifice the relational aspect of being able to talk in person. And at times I almost avoid talking in person because it requires less effort on my part to just send off a quick text. The best way to get ahold and contact kids on my careload is through texting, but then I start to notice how my grammar starts to suffer after receiving and sending so many texts like "r u free 2 hang out 2moro?" I am simply baffled at how much kids have to say that requires them to send over 2,000 messages a day, but then when in person they cannot say more than a few full sentences.

Teenagers are immersed in a very technological and accessible culture (My Space, texting, ipods, etc). For my job I see the benefit of understanding and involving myself in it to some degree. My challenge then becomes how to react to the influence it has on their lives. It's not okay to dump your girlfriend or boyfriend over a text message. And so begins the teaching moment of how to end relationships well. Or it's not okay to threaten to beat someone up over My Space. I then get to talk about healthy conflict resolution. Many of our kids just don't know how to interact relationally because they've been hidden behind this veil of technology. It's very interesting watching the trends change.

And we know the trends have changed indeed, because Brian, my husband, has now turned into a texter...

G&P 2 U
(Grace and peace to you)