The Kids Today

You know, with their hula hoops, their rock and roll, and their fax machines. Now they've got text messaging (OK, this is not new). According to this article in USA Today, "5 billion text messages are sent a month in the USA, up from 2.8 billion a year ago, according to the wireless trade association CTIA." What is being "texted" (oy, "text" is now a verb)?

Live 8, the global series of rock concerts July 2, generated 26 million text messages worldwide in support of debt relief for African nations. At U2 concerts this summer, fans can text their names to show up on a giant screen behind the band — and register to be part of lead singer Bono's poverty-fighting ONE Campaign.

Sports teams are starting to use "texting" to bond with fans. Hair salons can use it to remind customers of appointments. You can sign up to get text updates about traffic on your commuting route and weather in your hometown. Teen People magazine will automatically text you breaking news about such weighty issues as Scarlett Johansson's love life. At SMS.ac, which wants to be the Yahoo of text messaging, guys can sign up to get a new pickup line every day.

So it appears to be a mix of the good and the horrifying.

I'm not averse to any new medium, really, but I can't get on board with this one--or at least not until they have proper keyboards attached to cellphones (which they do). My other big hangup is that I have never been able to use those cutesy IM abbreviations or smileys without feeling like a dork--and texting seems to rely on them.

But, then again, if this does continue, it will become a more expected part of life and business, as kids who grow up using this stuff bring it with them into adulthood and gradually transform everyone else's experience from the bottom up--much like technology inevitably does, be it computers, the Internet in general, and anything else you care to name. After all, it wasn't the old guys who inflicted MS Office on us all. Another reason why we should respect our elders.