I can’t help but feel hypocritical right now, and I would like to tell you why.
Out of all the annoyances at college, one of my biggest pet peeves has been – and most likely always will be – the constant texting. Nowadays, you can’t swing a small mammal without hitting at least half a dozen girls and guys with their phones held out in front of them, thumbs tapping away with inhuman accuracy and speed. Not that you’d actually have to swing said small mammal in order to hit them – most of them would probably walk straight into you, so absorbed are they in their conversations. And if they’re not bumping into you, they’re sitting next to you in class, typing incessantly as the professor struggles to be overheard, even with the help of his low-quality clip-on microphone.
I don’t like it one bit. I actually want to focus in class, damn it! I want to have a conversation with someone without them looking away every ten seconds to check their phones for new messages. Most of all, I want to live texting-free so that I can complain about it without coming across as a total hypocrite.
All was going quite well, of course, until AT&T politely informed me that I would need to purchase a messaging plan if I wished to update my contract with my new phone.
Well then.
I now have a phone with texting, and I find myself with a bit of a dilemma. No, I’m not going to turn up my nose and refuse to text – I’m forking over an extra twenty bucks a month for it, so I might as well use it. And no, I’m not going to whine about people texting now, because guess what…I actually enjoy it.
I’ve never had a phone with texting before, and now that I do, I see what the fuss is all about. It’s quick. It’s convenient. It can be done quietly – not just in class when the professor’s looking the other way, but in a library or study lounge, or in the morning when your roomie’s sleeping and you don’t want to say anything out loud. I’ve had it for a day, and I’ve already used it a number of times. It’s pretty great, I have to say.
If (or when, I suppose, although I’d like to keep this in the realm of possibility only) I become addicted, I will never say a negative word about those who text constantly; as it is, however, I will continue to do so. Because hey – I’m not obsessed with it yet. I can’t type that quickly on a tiny keyboard, and most people I know still prefer the old-school verbal method of communication (rock on!). But I promise that, if such a day arrives, I will sincerely apologize to all the girls I’ve complained about over the past year and a half. If such a day arrives. We’ll see. I may be approaching the dark side, but they haven’t completely converted me yet.
Unless, of course, they really do have cookies.
