To Text, or Not To Text?

When I lived in Italy in 2001, texting was all the rage. Making a call was so ridiculously expensive that texting was the best option to communicate. Back then I was completely fascinated by everyone texting - especially my 18-year-old roommate who did it 24/7. Now that it's caught on here, there are some rules which need to be set. Here are my top grievances:

1) If you're hanging out with someone (read: boy) and another person (read: girl) texts them, it's considered RUDE to text them back constantly (right?). I mean, call me crazy, but I think it's just common courtesy to give your undivided attention to the person you're hanging out with. Or have all manners gone out the window?

2) When a conversation is so heated that you feel like you'd rather chuck your phone across the room than continue texting the person back, PICK UP THE PHONE. Sometimes texting just gets overused as a preferred way to communicate when the whole thing should be discussed either in person or at least on the phone. It's a chicken way to communicate big issues. 3) Why do people send jokes or forwards to a text? Don't I get enough of this on my email? Don't bog down my text messages with stupid crap.

Now, don't get me wrong. I'm a big fan of texting and if used in the right way, I'm all about it. Sometimes I just worry that it's been mis-used and making people lazy about communicating properly.