halfway

on text messaging (and other new forms of communication)

Not that there is much call for Miltonic messaging these days. To use the
scholarly jargon again, text-messaging is "lateral" rather than
"penetrative," and the medium encourages blandness and even mindlessness.
On the Internet there are several Web sites that function as virtual
Hallmark stores and offer ready-made text messages of breathtaking
banality. There are even ready-made Dear John letters, enabling you to
dump someone without actually speaking to him or her. Far from being
considered rude, in Britain this has proved to be a particularly popular
way of ending a relationship - a little more thoughtful than leaving an
e-mail message but not nearly as messy as breaking up in person - and it's
also catching on over here.

http://www.nytimes.com/2006/01/22/magazine/22wwln_lead.html


why do people dump on email so much, huh?? 99% of my most substantive
correspondence happens via email. how can an email (a letter, after all!
in whatever physical form) even compare to a text message with a 200
character limit?

old hidebound fogeys suck. oh wait, no, that was probably a "mindless,
unpenetrative" comment worthy only of email.