Monday Wut Wut: A use for text messages

[CatInASuit]

Now don't get me wrong, I'm sure most people out there use a lot of text messages and find them really useful. I know several who prefer them to actually using the phone for, you know, phoning someone and speaking to them.

I always found them fairly contextless and pretty pointless as any conversation over text always seems to take at least four or five of them. Sending one, then waiting five minutes for a beep to show a response has come back. Typing in your own response while cursing the predicitive text, which it rarely is. Seriously, it has never spelt my name right. Once you have sent it off, then wait another five mins and repeat. I'm still waiting for it to beat the one minute phone call. But people just seem to find it easier to throw out a text than to interact.

So, I don't like texts and a still get 200 free texts month, of which I use maybe two a month. Until now.

Across london, the transport network have rolled out a new service, where you can text in for the time of the next bus. Boring, unappealing, but when loaded down with shopping, I find myself texting madly and running through texts wondering whether to walk or wait. Over a couple of weeks, it has gone from being a novelty to something that I really don't want to do without. I could if I have to, but it is so very useful, I begin to wonder how I did without it before.

It's not like its even a washing machine or dishwaher where the benefits are obvious, but somehow that little bit of extra knowledge that the next bus will be round in 3 mins or so, makes it all worth while.

[Orual]

I agree that texting isn't the best for conversations, but I don't like having conversations on the phone anyways. Texts are best used for ETA updates and as email-lite.

Funnily enough, I have to call and talk to a robot to get my next bus arrival time.

[Zuul]

I'm not a fan of texts, but I have been using them a bit more often lately. They're good for quick updates, especially if I want to send the same bit of information to several people at once, or post something to Twitter or Facebook. I really dislike having a conversation with them, though, and if I don't feel like a response is necessary I tend to just...well, read them and fail to respond.