Text Messaging (aka txt msg)

One way to text, if you happen to be in a prop plane.

A Blah Blah moment:  SMS means simple message service. (SOS is what you write in the sand when you are SOL.)  SMS is actually the fancy acronym for Text Messaging.  It’s done on your cell phone (if you have one and get that service).  And it involves sending 160 characters or less to someone else’s cell phone.   So what’s the big whoop?

Texting is an obsession of teenagers and college students. But take note.  Baby boomers are being forced into it by those teens and college-aged kids.   And busy parents like me love it for the efficiency of reaching friends, clients and even the spouse (he just learned to text, it has made for much more efficient marital communiques).  The technology has now advanced where can now text photos you took with your phone (yes, many of them take pictures if you haven’t heard) or to your Facebook or My Space page on the web.  You can update your twitter feed.  And you can certainly tell your teenager to get home. Pronto.

Just ask your cell phone provider about texting packages with your cell service.   And then learn some of the texting lingo.  Remember when Michael Phelps said that his mom slipped once in a while when she was texting him? He was referring to using too many characters as in vowels and full words for numbers or “your” which is “ur” in text speak.    Here’s a list of the more common ones, so that you too, won’t be chastised when your son or daughter wins 8 gold medals.