This week I chose texting as my popular culture topic. Texting or Short Message Service is conducted from your computer, cell phone, or PDA (Online Library, 2009). It is fast, reliable and a convenient way to say whatever is on your mind, whenever you want to. According to the Free Online Library, the first text message was sent in 1989 by using a pager. The first true text over a network was sent in 1992 in the United Kingdom. Now texting is considered the fastest and most reliable method of communicating which now boasts over a billion subscribers (2009).
When I was in a military school, my class mates decided that instead of having meetings after the day was over to discuss what was going to occur the next day, they would send out a text message. I found this very inconvenient because at the time, I did not text. After receiving several texts messages, dubbed leadership through texting, I purchased the text option on my cellular plan and upgraded my phone so I could join the texting revolution.
Texting has become so popular, and so dangerous that it is forcing new laws to be created in the interest of public safety. The Governors Highway Safety Association shows that 19 states have actively banned texting while driving (2010). The bans on texting have even flowed over to placing limitations on train operators, air traffic controllers, and pilots, while on the ground due to accidents (Akre, 2008).
With over 75 billion text messages sent over cellular phones in June 2008 (Akre, 2008), the text message is definitely popular. In my family, my step-son can text my wife while carrying on a conversation with myself and watching TV. My wife is just as capable and she just got my step-daughter into texting, so they can maintain contact. While I enjoy texting my wife from my computer, and find it very convenient that I can text her cell phone from my computer and find her anywhere she may be, I find the cell phone texting an annoying habit. I have observed people texting while at dinner, in the middle of conversations, at the movies, and of course while driving. In my opinion this is a selfish habit. But with conflict comes recourse. I wonder what the next generation texts devices will have. Will there be a hands free texting device?
References
Akre, J. (2008). Driving While Texting Laws Slow to Catch Up to Problem. Retrieved February 19, 2010, from http://www.injuryboard.com/national-news/driving-while-texting-laws-slow-to-catch-up-to-problem.aspx?googleid=248018
Governors Highway Safety Association. (2010). Cell Phone Driving Laws. Retrieved February 19, 2010, from http://www.ghsa.org/html/stateinfo/laws/cellphone_laws.html
The History of Text Messaging. (2009) In The free online library. Retrieved February 19, 2010, from http://www.thefreelibrary.com/The+History+of+Text+Messaging-a01073979859
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