Wednesday, September 14, 2011

Rules of Texting

My family does not have texting on our phones.
We can receive texts, but we cannot respond.
If I had a choice, I wouldn't even receive the evil things.

Here's my question for those of you who understand the beauty of texting and embrace it:

Why the hell do people send texts at god forsaken hours of the night?

I understand that I don't fully grasp the concept, but I believe texting hours should be the same as phone calling hours.  The phone's gonna ring either way, right?

I can mute my phone, yes.
But, if I have the phone on at all, it's because I expect I might get an emergency call... say... from my teenaged kid who now has a license and can drive.  Or, from any number of out-of-state family members with varying states of health.  (Which is silly of me because no one ever calls me anyway.  They post news like that on Facebook.  But that's another post...)

The point is, I can't responsibly turn off my phone just because the sun goes down, but people seem to think they can set my phone off just about any time of day or night... because it's a text and not a phone call.

What am I missing?
Do folks assume that if I don't want to be disturbed, like in a meeting or at the movies, I will turn off my phone?  Is that it?  Does no one consider that the phone they are texting might be on in the middle of the night?

I have searched all over my phone to change the ring of a text to be a vibrate or a silent, but I cannot find this feature.  I can change all the other kinds of alarms and such, but not texting.  Probably because I don't have an active texting feature.  That's not anyone's fault or responsibility but mine, I get it.

But, is the standard protocol, "Text anytime.  It's a text."?
As far as I know, no one thinks, "I can call anytime.  They'll ignore the call if they want."

Please explain the thinking.

(Oh, yeah, the catalyst for this post is that the church youth group sent mass texts last night at 10pm.  Most people wouldn't call at that hour, but apparently a text is acceptable?  Both The Husband and Elder Son, to whom the texts were directed, were in bed sleeping.  Both were then woken up.  Neither were happy about it.)

9 comments:

The Gray Monk said...

No, not acceptable, but you may find that a "group text" like that is cheaper if done at "unGodly hours."

Deb said...

Oh, yeah, the catalyst for this post is that the church youth group sent mass texts last night at 10pm. Most people wouldn't call at that hour, but apparently a text is acceptable? Ok, that's just rude. I get email notifications on my phone (but for some reason can't collect them), those newsgroups that send out emails in the wee hours are unsubscribed from right away.

I would complain to the church youth group.

diamond dave said...

Wake me up with an unsolicited, unimportant text, and be prepared for your eyeballs to bleed from the vitriol in my reply.

Dani said...

I'm not much of a texter but if I am going to send one I won't send it any earlier or later than I would call. My phone allerts me when I get a text or eamail and it annoys the heck outta me when that wakes me up so I assume that would also be true for anyone I send a text to.

It's possible that the person sending the youth group texts doesn't know it's likely to make noise. I'd give em a heads up. If it keeps happening it's rude.

Thumper said...

I would rather someone text me than call, mostly because I can barely hear anything on a phone. But yeah, people will text at stupid hours, so I turn the sound on my phone off when I go to bed. But then my kid is 28 and doesn't live here, so hearing from him is usually not an issue...

Mrs. Who said...

Call your provider...they can set a 'block all texts'. I have it on mine. It's a beautiful thing.

Andy said...

You've raised a good question, Roses. Things are changing rapidly. Many folks have not yet grabbed the concept that many households have given up their land lines entirely (like we have).

I think some folks still assume that there is a telephone on the wall in every house that will ring in the middle of the night if Grandpa is at death's door, or if Junior has had a car wreck...and that the cell phones are turned off in overnight hours.

That's how it WAS just a few years ago. That has changed rapidly, and good manners has not caught up just yet.

There is probably no good answer, except to patiently educate people that MAY send you a text.

I'm like Dani. I send texts only in the hours that are acceptable for phone calls. Did that today...wanted to wish a co-worker a happy birthday, but waited until I knew she'd likely be up and around.

I think good manners will catch up eventually.

Moogie P said...

Short answer? Yep. Times have changed -- but, just like Andy said, I think manners will catch up. Someday. Maybe.

It's the ones that come really early, from morning people, that get me. Moogie is not a morning person.

I do like the luxury of texting, though. It cuts out a lot of the extraneous, irrelevant stuff that usually accompanies phone calls. Ordinarily, Moogie is not a phone chatter, in addition to not being a morning person. Woe be unto he who calls Moogie too early!

Bou said...

Manners won't catch up. Society is getting more and more boorish.

I do txt. I prefer texting over speaking, because no one can over hear. However, I would NEVER send a txt past 9. I have friends that go to bed VERY early... and I have no desire to wake them. How annoying.

As someone suggested... I'd get hold of the youth group leader.