The Social Construct of Texting (And Why It's Stupid)

I forgot to bring my phone to work today. When I realized I didn't have it, I wasn't so concerned about me needing to use it as I was about people contacting me and getting silence in return.*

That's stupid, though.  

I try really hard not to ignore text messages, iMessages, phone calls or emails, even when I don't like getting them. I don't carry my phone everywhere and I set silence timers at night and in the morning so I'm not disturbed, but definitely I feel pressure to respond in a timely manner. I don't know where that comes from. Did we have a meeting and say "Here's the guidelines: respond to texts within a few hours, phone calls within 24 hours, emails within 1-5 days, respond to letters whenever you feel like it because you'll get one a year, maybe." I think texts are even a generational thing. Kids today probably have a 1 minute response time expectation. Truthfully, I usually try to respond within 10 minutes when I get a text. I just don't always get texts within 10 minutes of when they are sent. I don't check my email all that often anymore because it's mostly spam these days. Anything important comes in a text. Every time my phone rings, I think someone died. ("She was born in the 80's, she still uses her phone as a phone!")

I think communication used to be based on the actual technological constraints: how long it took to write and mail a letter, etc. In the early days of telephone use, it seems like you always answered, because it means it was important news. Now, with everything so immediate, it's based on some personal timetable that might or might not conform to your communication partner. 

It's a weird, arbitrary system. And kind of stupid.

* I went to this weird shop during lunch with my coworkers and oh! I sure did miss having my phone camera. I use that camera all the time, now that I think of it. Way more than I use the phone for talking!