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Suzanne

Suzanne is a 19-year-old MYIQ panelist. Her perspective on the on-going trends and changes in her wireless world is a monthly feature.

Yes, I am now willing to admit it. Guilty as charged, I am a text-messaging maniac. The thought of being able to reach anyone anytime anywhere is too much of an opportunity to pass up; in fact, I just texted my dad, begging him to bring home some Chinese food for dinner.

I also start my day off each morning with all of my text alerts. They help me decide what to wear, which freeways to avoid and what my daily horoscope predicts.

At one point I was free from the texting addiction. For the first little while I only sent texts to friends on rare occasions, like the night of New Year’s Eve when the ball dropped and I needed to wish them all a happy new year in one minute.

Then in my senior year I met Alex. He became the object of my obsession for all of Christmas vacation and the reason why my cell phone bill nearly doubled that month—my parents of course were furious about both.

With my online instant messages to Alex on the downstairs computer under constant surveillance, and the vein that seemed to stand out on my father’s forehead like a snake ready to strike at just the mention of his name, text messaging became our escape.

Several months later when I was finally in college, I became miserable. For some reason in the move, my ability to text remained back in Connecticut.

During my physics class, my gaze would inadvertently turn to those bent over their cell phones clicking buttons while our professor continued to expound on the theory of acceleration in space. The thought even now makes me yawn.

It wasn’t until the next semester that my father actually restored my text capability with a new bundled plan from my phone company. You cannot imagine my joy! Once again the possibilities of texting were mine! My friends and I used our phones constantly to message one another about when we could meet in between classes for lunch and the latest gossip on relationships.

Home now from school for a few months, my addiction has become the worst it has ever been. My friends totally understand but my parents just don’t get it. “Can’t you just come downstairs and tell us something?,” they ask me, and “Why don’t you just call that boy back at school? Wouldn’t your friends prefer actually hearing your voice on the phone?”

I’ve tried explaining it to them numerous times, but they haven’t caught on yet. I just wish they could understand that the wonderful thing about it is it’s not as personal as a phone call but not as distant as an email. You can text friends to let them know you’re thinking about them without actually having to gab for a few hours. You can let your parents know what your plans are without having to go into too much detail, and you can send an innocent little message after a night out to a guy letting him know you had a good time without seeming overly interested but still keeping your face fresh in his mind.

Text messaging is definitely here to stay, but that’s all I can tell you for now; I just got a text informing me that my dinner has arrived.

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