Texting: A New And Popular Way of Communicating By Daryl D. Scopino

Today, mostly every family have cell phones. One very popular feature of a cell phone is text messaging. Text messaging is the exchange of brief messages between mobile devices. Text messaging is very popular with people today because it is an easy and fast way to communicate. Ever since I purchased my cell phone, I found that I was communicating more with my friends, especially the ones who live in Connecticut and New York. I also found that it was much easier and faster to communicate and send information to people through text messages. Since I am fairly new at text messaging, I am becoming familiar with the ways people abbreviate words to make their messages as short as possible.

• Here are some ways you can use abbreviations to make messages shorter:

1. You can replace numbers with words. Ex. using "4" in place of for or "b4" in place of before.
2. You can omit vowels in words. Ex. "txt msg" which means text message.
3. You can replace spaces between words by capitalizing letters. Ex. "WhatTimeIsIt?"
4. Also, you can use punctuations to form emoticons which express a mood or an emotion. Ex. :-) for a smile or to express that you are happy.
5. Finally, you can use different abbreviations for various words. Ex. "BTW" which is short for By The Way, "CUL8R" which is short for See You Later", and BRB which is short for Be Right Back.
   

• Remember, when text messaging, make sure you are aware of who the recipient of your text is.

There is no right or wrong way to abbreviate when text messaging. In some cases, you may text your friends and abbreviate words in a particular way that only you and your friend understand. If you were to mistaken your boss as your friend and send him/her a text message using your unique abbreviations, then your boss will most likely be very confused and can misinterpret what you have written. I actually had an incident like this not too long ago thinking I was text messaging my friend but, it turned out to be my mother. My mother was very confused and called me up panicking, thinking that something was wrong with me. So, to not have a whole lot of confusion and explaining to do, make sure you know who you are text messaging.

• Text Messaging is convenient in specific circumstances.

There are times when it is not polite to call a person because calling can interrupt something as important as a business meeting or can irritate people that are around you in certain places. My former boss always said to text him before calling unless I had to talk to him about something that was urgently important. The reason for this was to make sure I did not interrupt the meeting that he was in or the tour that he was giving. Another good example, is if you are in a movie theater. It is very rude to have a phone conversation in the middle of the movie because it distracts the people around you from watching. Be polite, and text message the next time you are out at a movie or know that someone is doing something of importance.

• For people that are new to text messaging like me, here are some more examples of common abbreviations and emoticons that you can use:

• Text Message Abbreviations

• Emoticons

Work Cited:

• Dobrin, Sidney I., Christian R. Weisser, and Christopher J. Keller. Technical Communication in the 21st Century. Upper Saddle River: Prentice Hall, 2007. Print. (pgs. 331-333)
• "Common Emoticons and Acronyms." Primitive Baptist Web Station. Web. 30 Nov. 2009. .
• "Text Messaging, Chat Abbreviations and Smiley Faces - Webopedia." Webopedia: Online Computer Dictionary for Computer and Internet Terms and Definitions. Web. 30 Nov. 2009. .