Texting Takeover

If you are anything like me, you're one of those people that doesn't go anywhere without her cell phone. If we're not texting (having actual oral conversations over the phone seem to have gotten lost somewhere with the dinosaurs), we're checking our emails, paying our bills, or finding some other way to avoid taking part in real-life conversations. The chances are that most of you are probably reading this from your cell phones. This being as such, I have to take this time to voice my concern for the poor grammar that tends to go along with texting.

The last text message I received was "np. lol." I had just thanked a friend for answering a question for me. The "np," I understand to mean "no problem." The "lol," I'm assuming is being shortened from "laugh out loud" -- this friend isn't quite the "lots of love" type. If I'm interpreting this text message correctly, then I'm perplexed as to why the "lol" is even in there? It seems that this acronym is being thrown into just about every text message now without the sender even really knowing why!

For myself, the appeal of sending a text message is that it's quick and easy. What's unappealing, is that to make texting even "faster," we're making acronyms out of all our common phrases. I say "faster" because, it can sometimes take me five minutes just trying to decipher a 30 character text.

I wonder then, what this means for our future generations? Children who don't even have any friends to talk to yet are getting cell phones for their birthdays. Will "words" like "ttyl" and "brb" become common grammar for them? I guess that English and grammar teachers will have their work cut out for them.

With technology continuously improving and coming out with the latest versions, it seems that we won't be seeing the end of texting anytime soon. That being said, I still find it difficult embracing text messages that barely contain any actual words. Maybe I'm just old?