Wuz up u goin 2 the party 2nite?no. can’t hav hmwrk.

ok. call l8r

will u b my friend? i plan 2 talk thru text only. sry. i dont hav nuff time to call. i tell jokes w/ j/k after them 2 show im kiddin. i say wuz up but wont talk if i pass u. sry. i dont hav nuff time.

I’ll admit I’m guilty of text messaging often. I’ll admit I have some friends I don’t talk to outside of text messaging. I’ll admit I’ll say something sarcastically and send a smiley face afterward to make sure the recipient of my text message knows I’m just kidding.

Text messaging is convenient for a quick check on a friend, a reminder of a meeting place and time, a way to fight boredom during class. However, perhaps enough is enough.

Texting has taken over. The text message is the new post-it note. People break up in text messages, they apologize in text messages and they argue in text messages.

These discussions should be held face-to-face or at least in a phone conversation.

There’s a lot to be said for facial expressions, body movement and tone in a voice, and through text messages, these elements of communication are lost. I have a friend who understands my sense of humor and who is just as sarcastic as I am, but when we have a basic text message conversation, our foundation of understanding is lost.

I smile while insulting you so you know I’m joking. My friend is the same, but when we start talking through text, our methods of subtle communication are lost, and we are left with expressionless words.

I sent a message to my friend asking whether we still had plans that night, and I got a brief, “Ya, i guess i just ate tho.”

I was offended at the brief blow off of our night since we had planned on dinner. By saying he had just eaten, I assumed our plans were canceled.

So I responded: “fine i’ll find something better to do.”

That set off a long sequence of text messages which ended with us being so angry we couldn’t even call each other. The problem would have never occurred had I called him or he called me.

Predictive text has made it difficult to decipher whether your friend thinks it’s all right that you meet later, but the response you get is, “thats book.”

That’s book? Is that a new slang? No, it’s just the same letter combination as “cool.” It’s a convenience, like the text message, and can be abused.

We are careless enough in our text responses without adding the confusion of a mistakenly chosen word.

Of and me are the same. Home, gone and good are the same. Hate, have and gave are the same.

Awake and cycle are the same (which was funny when I got a message that said, “call me when you’re cycle”).

You get a message that looks like this: “I hate to in good, but she’s good gone without of.”

The intended message was: “I have to go home, but she’s gone home without me.”

I got a message once from a friend who was locked out of his dorm, and he wanted me to come get him. But, I didn’t know what he meant when he said: “Can u bone get of?”

I am still a fan of the text message; it is convenient. I have learned there are some people I can text message without needing extra explanation and there are many whom I can’t.

Take time to read what you say before you send it off into the world. It’s still writing, and you can’t take back something once it has been written. Be careful, and when in doubt, just call.

Tasha Hayton is a senior news-editorial journalism major from Flower Mound.