"Ill Text Ya Later!"

I was listening to an AT&T commercial today talking about how we are living in the "Age of Texting", and I thought, "Wow, that guy is right!" and then I got this sinking feeling inside because I realized just how right he is.
As much I depend on, enjoy and appreciate the World Wide Web, I can't help but be a little sad about it too.  I realize that this probably sounds bizarre; because it's so convienent and fast, right? You can find ANYTHING on the internet; (& lots of stuff you never ever wanted to find in your whole life too) but it began this slippery slope in our culture, I think. It was like a drug, the net, because you could meet people from all over the world without ever leaving your living room! It made solitude popular. Why leave the house when you have a computer, right? Your friends can be right at your fingertips and you can still clean your house and paint your toenails while you talk; Isn't it sad though that we have become a culture of being too busy to really be with people and communicate? Am I just behind the times in my thinking?  I just think there is value to being face to face with people, and being completely present when you spend time talking to them. We're losing the art of companionship, if you ask me.

I cannot stand trying to have an intelligent conversation through text messages on my phone! And my other giant pet peeve about texting?  Those people that you NEVER hear from, they never just call to see how you are, they've not returned phone calls so many times that you've just quit calling them too, but you'll get a random text from them now and then? What the hell is that all about?!  I look at it like this, if you can't call me, stop by my house once in awhile and at least act like you actually give a damn about me, take my number out of your phone because you don't need to text me either! It's just like one more place for someone to SPAM you!

Is it really any wonder that we don't know how to get along and how to treat each other well, most of the time? Our social etiquette is being abandoned for abbreviated versions of what we're trying to tell each other in the fastest possible way so we can either answer the next text, or finish that TV show; and we're forgetting how powerful it is to be able to reach out and shake a hand or hug someone your happy to see. Our culture of text messaging communicators is becoming more and more robotic, we are becoming more robotic and impersonal, and I think that sometimes we should feel a little sad about that.
I am guilty, like millions of others, of using text messages or emails to keep in touch because its just easier; but in doing so, I have also realized how solitary I have gotten and how comfortable that is to me most days. In some respects I embrace that aspect of my life, but in other ways, I wonder how much is too much?

I'm not advocating a text free zone, or anything like that, because I think that cell phones and computers have made life better in many valuable ways, I just think that we need to remain balanced.