Texting? Why is it so popular?

Oh my gosh.. I am not alone in the world of "what's the point of texting" world!!! Nice to meet you! I totally agree with you... what is the confounded point!?!??! If you want to talk to me.. call me. I can understand a quick note or something like that... but conversations... give me a drink and call me stupid.. but good grief... why not just call the person!!! ANd you practically have to learn a new language for texting since they use so many abbriviations and shorten the spelling of words to not include silent letters...like "tomorrow" is "2maro" I keep telling my grand kids to go to college and become an orthopedic doctor specializing in thumbs as that is where they money is going to be!!!! 20 years from now..."thumb illnesses" is going to be where the money is!!! I will text only if I am not driving, and not doing anything else when the text comes in.. but other than that... call me.

I guess its kind of hard to explain. It is one of those things that people love but don't seem to know why. Plus sometimes its just so much easier to text that to actually talk. Sometimes you might want to talk to someone but not know what to say, texting can leave out all those awkward silences. And if you are texting to keep entertained then the conversation wont be over so fast, because you need to send texts and recieve then send again. Its also similar to instant messaging chats, such as windows live messenger. It could be the similarities such as being able to think about what you want to write before you send it that makes it popular. The truth is...i dont really know.....sorry

One thing that I don't believe has been mentioned yet is that texting gives you a litle more privacy. Specifically, you can have a conversation with someone, and no-one can hear you. This would be especially useful at work or at school, plus it only takes a minute. Good question, though! Bobbie

Text message does have its advantages. First, a text message is sent to help the receiver keep a long stable memory of an important information, like an address or a phone number. Second, it usually costs less than phone talking. The mobile company here in my city prepares various text-message service packages for customers to order. For example, a $3 package allows you to send up to 350 pieces of messages each month.

texting is popular because it is practical, especially here in my country. If you just wanted to reply ok or say a very short message, using text messages would be the best. It's cheaper and helps you save your phone's battery. But if I need to discuss or explain important matters, I prefer to use a call. I am a texter, I don't mind if I had to press and press many times.

It depends, for sending a quick message a text is very easy, especially if you have numerous people to send it to it can often be time saving. As a lad, if i called another lad we don't stay on the phone for hours chatting, whereas if i call my girlfriend i can be on the phone hours. Another thing is in my contract i have far more texts than minutes, hence once ive exhausted all my minutes im only left with texts to avoid racking up a huge phone bill! I happily use both and really don't have a preference :)

i definitely prefer talking to texting... that's why i am using a mobile phone without a QWERTY keyboard and i am fine with it... i think talking is more personal and in most cases can save you money compare to texting if you have lots of things to say... also, with texting sometimes there can be misunderstanding as you don't know the feelings or mood of the person you are texting with... so talking for me as well... take care and have a nice day...

I feel like texting isnt as personal as a short call or a writen letter. It almost seems like we are losing the ability to have a face to face conversation anymore. We are so busy rushing through our lives and trying to fit the most into the time we have that we take for granted what really means the most. I dont text and refuse texts because I would rather have the human contact.

I don't like text messages myself but it's something I do need for work purpose. My work sends me a lot of text messages through out the day with informations & questions & etc. Sometimes I'm in a meeting & can't really answer the phone. My girl friend text messages me while I'm working because she knows I can't call her too often. I do think it's a personal preference. Full keyboard does make it easier & fater to type.

In my opinion the hype of texting is that some people can text unlimited for twenty bucks, and are actually good at it, they get to know their cell and do not even have to look at their cell to do that. I do not feel one needs a special phone with a full keyword, any prepaid cell phone will do. I know I do fine with a cheap cell and so do the rest of my family. It is more private and one can have some communication for as low as 10 bucks per month (1000 text messages for 9.99 virgin mobile) it is private and cheap. And leave the talking for the real emergencies, heck I can even send a text to a landline.

For some, it could be cheaper. I know with some cell phone plans, a user can have unlimited texting but only a set amount of cell phone minutes. If the person they need to contact has unlimited texting also, it's easier to text that person rather than use minutes on something that can be answered by text. My DH and I text sometimes. He'll text me if he's at work or if I'm at work. It's easier on us especially when one of us is busy or if our baby is cranky. A crying baby doesn't interrupt a text conversation like it does a phone call. The average American cell phone user sends more text messages in a month than they make phone calls. Some months this is true for me, some it isn't. It depends on the month. I text because I know that the person will get the message even if they're in a meeting or at work. It's easier and faster than calling. I know I can text anywhere and I can't be overheard and I can make plans etc or ask simple questions even if I don't have time for a call.

I guess it really depends on your location. For instance I live in the Philippines and a lot of people here really are budget conscious. Since, text promotions are all over like unlimited text for 1 day, 2days, 3days or 5 days are spreading like wildfire so people here in my country go for the texting instead of the calling method presented in the cellphones. People here really want to conserve their money and it's really something to be admired. Have a nice day! :)

well because it is fast and cheap. Well in this country, texting was popularized by jokes, quotes and such.

One side of the story that one can look at are rates of calls and SMS. I'm not sure how it works in your country, but here in the Philippines, call rates are higher compared to SMS rates, which is one reason why there are more people who prefer to "talk" more through SMS. One might also want to factor in the kind of plan that the user has, whether its prepraid or post-paid. I prefer to talk via calls, but I have had experienced people saying that I did not say this or that, especially with work. People make alibis that the signal is not good and they cannot hear me so to save my a*s, aside from the call, I make sure that I still send an SMS - in that way the conversation is sort of documented.

I text all the time. For me it's a coveinance because sometimes I need to tell someone something really quick but don't want to get stuck on the phone in a long conversation and sending a text is a quick easy way to tell someone something.

well first off texting is cheaper and way easier but more than that its useful. last time i lost my voice and couldn't speak so i started texting and sooner or later it grew on to me i started texting way more than calling and my phone bill went down dramatically. furthermore sometimes some things are too embarrassing to be said so texting does help and when you wake up in the morning and see that you have cute little messages sent to you it makes you feel all the more better so what's wrong with texting? absolutely nothing :) enjoy it. embrace it. love it. texting is why i love phones. its like a silent movie where they use to hold signs up. with text you never have to repeat yourself the person can just go back and re-read the text with text everything's much quicker instead of having an hour conversation it is said that you get right down to the point in texting so your conversation becomes 5 minutes and everyone is happy to go do other things with the extra time. hope i didn't drag to long as i am typing right now with my HTC touch pro phone with a full qwerty keyboard and im loving it. bye bye

Well, i prefer texting than talking specially when using my celphone because it is more expensive to talk than to text. Also, here in the Philippines, we have some promos wherein we can text all for only PHP20 up to 100 texts to the same network and 10 texts to other networks. Texting is simply much cheaper than calling.

I only do the texting when I am unable to talk like in a meeting or in class. Then it's when I am out of credit and only left with certain amount that's enough for texting. Apart from that, I prefer to call. It's much faster and convey the meaning which will lost when texting. Besides, I am impatient, I want fast answer. Texting require lots of time to send and receive. It can take whole night just to talk about tomorrow's plan.

Texting in our place is the most popular mode of communication. Is very useful because texting here is cheaper than calling. If you have a long word you can just abbreviated so that easily encode to the phone. Texting is not disturbing if you are inside a meeting or other just silent or vibrate mode and read the text if you have not just disturbing others.

Texting is popular because it doesn't have awkward silences. I mean a whole texting conversation would be about a minute in real life. It's more convenient as It can be done in more places without feeling self conscious. It also disturbs less people around you when you are texting, it also doesn't involve people talking at the same time like a phone conversation does but I personally don't like it too much either.