12 Steps

My name is Sharon and I am a text messaging addict.

On my last cell phone bill, the incoming and outgoing message count was well over four hundred. Thankfully, I had already switched to an unlimited text messaging flat fee a few months prior, which yes, I acknowledge does nothing to reduce my dependence on the service.

An article by Lisa Fitterman printed in the Edmonton Journal today spurned some self-reflection:

"What I hate most about texting, or text-messaging, is that those who indulge in it do not - indeed, cannot - give what is going on around them their undivided attention. Most of us aren't very good at multi-tasking - at speaking on the phone, for example, while reading and/or writing e-mails. So why should text-messaging in public be any different? The New York Times's Bob Morris once called the practice "just another public display of disaffection." And Kenneth J. Gergen, a psychology professor at Swarthmore College, has described the phenomenon as "absent presence," in which we're there but not there."

Yes, I'm guilty of the above offense. Though it would make sense to simply talk to those right in front of you, communicating inane, non-urgent matters to those not there eventually solidified into habit.

It may be the allure of a technological novelty, or an advantageous use to maintain contact with close friends, but for now, I don't think my text messaging has gotten in the way of my participation in group situations - yet (I sound like an addict, don't I?).