I find the texting craze that is so fashionably addressed toward teens to be amusing. I have seen several TV commercials making fun of parents for being clueless on the language of texting.
That said; I probably send 40-50 text messages a day to my kids, wife or coworkers. Yet when people see me doing this, they look amazed. Is it my shock of white hair that makes people think I am a Neanderthal? Maybe.
“Are you texting?” asked Angela as I thumbed away at my cell phone keypad one day at the office.
rme (translation: rolling my eyes)
“Ah, yeah,” I said. “Why?”
I have never seen anyone your age text,” she said.
em? (translation: excuse me?)
“My age?” I say. “What am I? 150?”
gal (translation: get a life)
“Who are you texting?” she asked.
“My daughter and I are talking about her A in Spanish at college,” I smiled.
“I can’t get over this,” she said. “You, texting. Amazing.”
I hear that a lot. I think it’s because people my age have given certain technologies over to younger generations without trying them out to see if we like them. Old dogs can learn new tricks and type with their thumbs too. I mean, Jack Nicholson’s picture is on the cover of the AARP’s magazine. Fifty is the new thirty. I read that somewhere – maybe in a text.
NOTE: I have been fifty and I have been thirty and I can tell you with absolute certainty, thirty is better. Ask your failing eyes, knees, ears – the list is long.
Truth is, I have never been very good with people my age. I like younger people and older people. People my age are as boring as I am, and I get plenty of that when I’m alone. I find young people fascinating and older people even more fascinating. People my age are not fascinating. Sorry, friends, it’s true. And you know it.
I am no techno wizard like Jeff is, but I am no Luddite either. I know my way around the block and if I don’t like some of the new music, it has less to do with my age than the fact that so much of it sucks.
weg (translation: wicked evil grin)
So kids, the next time you see me stroll past, don’t go typing something like p911 or pir. Been there, know the shorthand.
Iykwim
