What Say You?

If you've been following this blog since its inception, then you already know that Coop and I have discussed at length the lack of human interaction in today's society.  Whether it's good or bad is neither here nor there.  Those who still live by the old-fashion traditions will continue to do so, and those who have accepted and adapted this new way of communicating obviously have no issues.  What I'd like to discuss today is just how far the electronic/digital/virtual world has taken us.

Imagine, if you will, a text conversation between two women.  We'll call them Coop and Dee.  Now imagine they are talking -- or complaining -- about men, which we all know would NEVER happen.  Now imagine one or both of the girls become pressed for time. Here's how their conversation goes...

Dee: "omg wtf?"

Coop: "ikr! imo, pita!"

Dee: "lol ihy"

Coop: "g2g, c u l8r? lmk"

Dee: "ok sgtm ttyl"

Um, WHAAAAAAT???  These two just had an entire 12-sentence conversation without using a single word.  That's right, sin una palabra.

It seems that even our shortcuts have taken shortcuts.  I get the whole convenience factor.  I get the saving time thing.  I also understand the character limitations.  But if we have that much to say, maybe, just maybe, we should be picking up the phone to call, not to text or Kik, right?  Many smartphones make apps that let you talk-to-text.  But if you're going to speak anyway, then why not just call the person?!

To think that an entire glossary of texting terms and abbreviations exists scares me a little.  Don't get me wrong, I am guilty of taking part in the phenomenon that has taken over.  But I am in my mid-30s and obviously from this blog, you can tell that it has not affected my thinking, speaking or writing skills.  But what about the younger generation? What about the 'tweens and teens who are supposed to be learning those skills, but are being conditioned by the new language of texting?  What are their college theses going to consist of? A bunch of "LOL"s and "OMG"s?