Do you text?

I have a new responsibility at church working with the young women. I teach them on Sunday, and meet with them on Wednesday nights for some sort of an activity. It has been really fun over the past few weeks getting to know these girls. Though the world around us is constantly changing and evolving, some things about teenagers will never change. There will always be giggling and eye rolling and crushes on this person, and then another... five minutes later.

It only took about five minutes for me to realize one huge difference between teenagers of today, and the ancient days of my own youth. You know, back in the late nineties. ( "Oh my gosh, MommyJ... when you were in high school, I was only, like, three years old.") I was actually ahead of the times when I was in high school. I had a cell phone... a large flip phone that stayed in the glove box of my car. I had thirty minutes of usage time a month and was allowed to pull out my phone, plug it in, and make a call... but only if I found myself in an emergency situation. Or I was going to be late and wanted to give Mom a heads up.

VERY different than the cell phone wielding, texting, miraculously dexterous teens of today. I literally watch these girls as they text, without looking, while carrying on a completely different conversation with someone else. They have instant message chats on their cell phones. They carry on complete conversations using a series of letters completely indistinguishable to even the most college educated.

This past Tuesday, I decided to try out their language. I sent them all a text message, reminding them of our activity the following day and what they needed to bring. On Wednesday, they told me that my text message took them totally by surprise. I'm sure they were trying not to laugh as they wondered how long it took me to type out the text message, letter by letter. No short hand, no fancy thumb tricks, just me and my outdated cell phone trying to keep up with their advancing technology. It worked though... they all came to the activity, AND they remembered what to bring. For all that they claim it's worth, I still think texting is a terribly inferior form of communication. I'm sure they have arguments against such a statement. But if it means getting a response from a pack of 15 and 16 year olds, then perhaps I'm willing to send an occasional text. But I will not learn short hand. I will not ROTFL. or LOL, and I will not BRB.