Getting a grasp on technology

I’ll admit it. I was a texting holdout — but only because the people I interacted with were Instant Messaging junkies. My half dozen or so confidants can or could be found on Google Talk or equivalent most of the day. We shoot back and forth with jokes, snide remarks, photos, banter, cool websites, news and what have you. So, I knew the benefits of text… But why on earth would I want to use that damn tiny keyboard?

Then I started hanging around with cyclists — and thus, spending a lot more time away from a proper computer. Most of our group are fairly techno-savvy and appreciate the benefits of quick, effective communication without the extended courtesies of hellos and goodbyes required in a phone call. So they text. A lot. It took me nearly two years to get sucked into it, but now, I see there’s quite a bit of texting in the history on my iPhone.

Dave Moulton posted (and retracted) a well-written piece on the aging hipster the other day. I thought of my over forty friends who are texting addicts. Staring at the small type on the screens and battling the even smaller keyboards on their phones.

But, I know there’s hope for the world. Last Friday morning, I got a call from my dear friends Audre & Warren, thanking me for my text inviting them to dinner. I hadn’t texted them on Friday morning… but… even though I knew we needed to pack, it sounded like a fine idea. Eventually, though, we figured out they were responding to a text from a few weeks… or maybe months ago… And this is not the first time it’s happened.

Which brings me to my point… Perhaps the best way to get a grasp on technology sometimes is to not grasp it at all… Instead, just make sure your friends grasp that you don’t get, don’t want to get it, and never will get it… You’ll probably be happier… I hate texting. Can’t stand that stupid small keyboard. But now that they know I can… I’m stuck.