Weblog

First, before I go off on my rant, let me say something to one of my dear friends: Meghan, it's nothing personal, but this is still my view. Besides, I love you too much to fight over a nickel.

Now, let me go over the history of human, long-distance communication. In the beginning, if a message needed to be sent over long distances, Alice would write the message and give it to Bob who would deliver it to Carol. The telegraph made this idea more practical by enabling the message to be transmitted at the speed of light. As technology advanced, actual voice messages were able to be transmitted over long distances. The telephone further advanced into the mobile telephone which allows each person to easily have a means to be connected to the rest of the world.

It would seem that society has advanced beyond the need for plain-text messages with the availability of mobile telephony. However, one of the most popular features on mobile telephones is that of text messaging.

I have to wonder why anyone who has the means to easily talk to another person would instead pay additional money for a service that is slower on a traditional QWERTY keyboard much less a twelve-key pad. It makes perfect logical sense to not use text messaging in this case. However, it still seems to be an attractive means to communicate. I don't know why I feel this way. Is it just because it's new? Is it just because the industry makes it seem important by charging extra money for it? I could be, but I don't want to take the time to find out.