Texting and Chatting

I do neither with one exception.  That exception is my son.  I will chat with him online.

Chatting and texting have their place.  They are convenient and a quick way to convey information.  Personally, I need to see who it is I am conversing with.  Facial expressions often will tell you more than the spoken word and so much more than the written word.

The written word can be misinterpreted far too easily and just who is that person on the other end?   The only text message I have received in the past year was from a friend who texts regularly and I never responded.  I was driving at the time and by the time I stopped to see what it was, I was at her house.

I get text messages from my cell phone provider and texts from wrong numbers.

That brings up the other possibility.  Just who is that person you are chatting/texting with?  Just because it is a familiar number does not mean that you know who is on the other line.  I do not chat with strangers or people I have just met online or new friends on Facebook.  It's a policy of mine.

There is nothing more frightening than realizing you have been speaking with someone who has just gotten a lot of personal information from you and you really don't know this person.  And that was in person.

Chatting online gives one a sense of freedom that between a man and a woman should be reserved for husband and wife.  We tend to be more relaxed in front of a screen and say something mildly suggestive that only serves to open doors that should remain closed.  The same goes for texting.  The same people that would never go to a bar without their spouse or strike up unwarranted conversations at the office with an attractive co-worker will do it easily on the internet and consider it harmless.  It is not harmless.  It is a pathway to discontent and allows you to talk about things that you should be discussing with your spouse.

Chatting and texting do not use enough words to suit me and the words that are used are a different language of parsed words and right now I don't want to learn a new language.