Text Messaging

I recall getting my first cell phone and the salesperson said, “This phone has text messaging capabilities.” My parents didn’t really know what that meant and neither did I, but I shortly learned all about text messaging. In Wendy Warren Austin’s essay “Text Messaging: Rhetoric of a New Keypad,” she discusses the limitations to text messaging and also what makes it so appealing. The main limitation she discusses is the fact that each message can only hold about 160 characters per message (104). There is no question that the character restriction limits the context of the message, but there are ways around the limitation as well. If I have a longer message to type I just continue to type and send the message in multiple pieces. This used to be somewhat of an issue because the order of the messages could get jumbled in the sending process, but over time I think most companies have fixed those problems and now multiple messages send with ease.
Austin also brings up the point that many buttons need to be pushed for each and every word (104). I don’t know if she considers that to be a limitation because she later argues that once someone is comfortable with the keypad, they can type text messages quickly and efficiently. I consider myself an avid text messager. It took some time to get to know the keypad, but once I was familiar with it I preferred typing text messages to talking on the phone. Now, most phones have the T9 option, which guesses the word that is being spelt out so the person doesn’t have to push as many buttons.
Personally, I find text messaging convenient and simple. I know there are others who will argue with me. In her last short paragraph, Austin finishes her essay by writing in “text message speak.” I think the message is an over exaggeration of how people really type messages, but she bring up a good point. “Will text message speak and academic language overlap?” I don’t think it does, but it is important for text messagers to understand when it is acceptable to use “txt msge spEk” and when it is necessary to use academic language.