Dear Abby: sms attachment: judgmental.jpeg

[lemonsharks]

DEAR ABBY: Recently, family members have started texting to inform me about personal, private matters. When they do, I text back, which sometimes leads to lengthy paragraphs. I wish they’d just call me! I’m beginning to wonder if that’s what they are avoiding. I should add that I am not feuding with my family. Am I wrong? — PERPLEXED IN CONNECTICUT

DEAR PERPLEXED: No, you are not wrong. People have become so enamored of their electronic devices they seem to have forgotten that sometimes it’s more efficient to just TALK to the other party. I know from personal experience that emailing and texting can take far more time than a spoken conversation.

Comments

[redbird]

I prefer email or a voice call to texting, because texting is a lot more prone to "autocorrect" introducing errors.

Abby is really missing the point, with the bit about "enamored of their electronic devices," as if my smartphone somehow stops being electronic when I'm using it for a spoken conversation.

I suppose it answers what the LW asked, but it's not exactly usable advice. They'd do better picking up the phone themself, or sending a text asking the other person to do that instead of sending long texts, without saying "I wrote to Dear Abby, and she agrees with me that voice calls are better than texting."