Text Messages are not IMs

Perhaps this experience has happened to you:

You get the simple text: "Hey, what's up?" Now, you obviously respond: "nm, whats up?" but you really want to say: "Thanks for wasting a text."
Then they respond: "I have a qusetion for you"
OK, two texts in, and still you don't have any information.
Then they ask the question, you respond, and then they have a follow up, so you respond again. Then they thank you.
They have sent you five, you have sent four back and you are now 9 text messages shorter than you were before.

I think that this happens because of IM technology. People become use to the ease of sending a gazillion messages a second on a computer and they translate those tendencies into phone texts. The fact that they have unlimited text messages doesn't help either.

Still, there is a much more efficient way. If you want a conversation, just call. If you can't call, then don't have a conversation. Ask the question and use all 160 characters, get the response and then be merry. If you need a follow up then that is OK. But 4 is much better than 10.

Since text messages are still new, the etiquette for their use is still under construction. Hopefully, by the end of the decade, we will have figured it out.
What other technological ettiquette are we still constructing?
Think about it!

The Poke

Ever think about the Facebook Poke? From an objective standpoint, what is the point? It is alike a perpetual ping pong game. It loses its meaning and the poke continues just for the sake of pride and continuation.
At first the poke is a little fun gesture. but it never ends. And then people are poking for a month and it is habitual. And then over the years you lose touch with the other person and you are still poking them.
WHY?

Computers From the Past

Think about all the components of the computer that have lost their significance and meaning over time.
The Keyboard
- Think about the Escape key. Escape. Now that is a word that makes you feel stuck in a program and you need to close the program. Today however, we use that key to do very little. Besides ESCAPING from a full screen video, I never use that key.
- What about the function keys. F4 and F5 I used often, but the other 10? Nope never never.
- The insert Key. Please. When do I ever type and want insert on. Whereas the escape key can sit there and not cause problems, the insert key is a pain all around. When that key is accidentally pressed, your essay or blog post will never be the same as it used to be...
-Scroll Lock?!?!

The Mouse
- Now that the mouse has scroll wheels, why include scroll bar buttons on the sides of windows? OK, so some people might not have them, and sometimes the wheels arn't accurate, but it still makes you think how redundant some features of computers are.

Other Things
- Why is the save icon a floppy disc. I bet there are people who don't even know what those are. At least printers still look like printers.
- Do you have any other thoughts?