Return To Sender

There are a lot of benefits to text messaging instead of calling someone. The most important of which is that for all the technological breakthroughs we have had in the last few years, cellphone reception is still awful. Sometimes just sending a text is the only way people will understand what you are trying to say. But, more than message clarity, texting is polite. It allows you to leave a message with a person without causing their phone to ring, which is a lot less intrusive considering you don't know their schedule - they could be in the middle of something important and interrupting them would be rude. Rather than taking them out of a meeting you didn't know they were in, sending a text allows you to let them know you have a question but they can get to it when they have a spare moment because, let's be honest, your question isn't that important anyway. (I contend there are only about 10 scenarios in the world which require absolute, immediate responses and 4 of them apply only to the President of the United States.) From a purely selfish standpoint, a text message allows you to convey only the information which is required without feeling like you have to work your way to the point after a polite amount of small talk (I think we have all made at least one phone call in our lives in which we were hoping for the answering machine), so you waste less time. On top of all of that you can have a few conversations going on at the same time, which means you can multi-task. It may lack any personal touch but there is no denying texting is far more efficient. At least, it will be as long as your information is being sent to the right person.

The other afternoon my phone started chirping at me, letting me know I had a new text message. When I picked it up I discovered it was from a number I didn't recognize and the entire message consisted of one word: "Hey." I never expect text messages to be particularly wordy and normally I don't mind the abruptness, but this one was mildly frustrating because it gave me no clue as to who the sender was. The fact I didn't recognize the number didn't necessarily mean I didn't know them, because some people on my contact list like to switch cellphones as soon as the new models come out and then forget to tell people about the change. So, in accordance with text message etiquette I replied back with the very simple, "Who is this?" Common courtesy would dictate a name or some other equally simple response, but this person responded with, "You ate my sandwich." Considering I make it a habit to only ever each my own lunch I decided I did not know this person and it was a wrong number. Normally that would be the end of the scenario. What made this time weird was that when I texted them back to inform them of their error the person on the other end of the line didn't believe me.

Instead they thought I was joking and kept texting me, which was annoying but did manage to confirm that it wasn't some friend of mine who was really committed to this joke when they beginning to communicate in text-speak. (At least, I think that is what they were going for. From the grammar and spelling they were using it is entirely possible the sender had a hand or head injury.) My friends may slip the random odd word into their messages when auto-correct guesses wrong, but they still write entire words - the message which kept coming were so jumbled with nonsense that at one point I thought they may have been encoded. So, I sent a second message reiterating that the number they were texting with did not belong to who they thought it should. The sender still didn't believe me and kept sending me messages throughout the day. After the second attempt I started ignoring them and eventually the messages stopped, either because the sender finally ran into the person they had thought they had been texting or got mad at them for ignoring their messages. (Is it wrong that I kind of hope it is the second option?) My phone plan features unlimited text messages, so there was no harm in this other than being annoyed at checking my phone every time a new message came in, because you know the one time I didn't check it the message would be important.

Still, this does deepen my fear is that the next generation is becoming a little too reliant on texting. Because they text all day, every day, many of them may be blissfully unaware that their phone is even capable of sending their voice to another person. To kids, calling is seen as a last resort. Honestly, if a person texts you a question and you call them back to answer it is seen as a major social faux pas. If there are only 10 scenarios which require an immediate response, there are only 2 which merit answering a text with an actual phone call and even the President isn't powerful enough to qualify for either of them. I just wish that wasn't the case, because there are rare occasions when the phone is the better option. For example, we have all gotten wrong number phone calls before and while they are annoying, at least that person doesn't keep calling. If this person had simply dialed the number and heard my voice they would have immediately known they had the wrong number rather than continuing to share personal information with me. (For example, that they were late to work that night. I didn't need to know that and I don't care.) So, maybe in the future we should all try picking up the phone a little more. And if someone tells you that you are sending your messages to the wrong person, please believe them.