Text Messaging

My internet has been out for like a week. I'm not happy about it, so I won't go into it. So, I've been thinking about text messaging. I know, you're probably thinking to yourself - who is this kid, and why does he have time to think about things like text messaging? Maybe he should get a facebook account or something to fill his time - to this I refer you to my previous post. Anyway, text messaging. . .
I really like text messaging - it's a great medium that allows us to pass information quickly and efficiently. Simple statements such as: "Hey, I'll be home at 3," or "The jazz lost again" are perfectly conveyed through text. Things like this might be weird to say over the phone - I probably wouldn't call someone just to tell them that the jazz won, and if I did the whole conversation might last all of 29 seconds. This is one of the great joys of text messaging. Comments that don't necessitate a response are perfect over text, and those that need a simple one word answer are equally fitted to text.
Dating - I think that text messaging adds a whole new dimension to dating that was never there before my mission. A simple text from someone you have a crush on can go miles. To this day I can't think of anything quite as effective for a girl to do after a date to let a guy know she's interested as sending him a post-date text. Text-flirting is great - it knows few bounds - during class, while your roommate is sleeping, and other small moments are perfectly suited to text-flirting. One cannot but help getting the willie bejillies when the phone is pulled out and the screen reads: "One new message." It's almost like Christmas morning or sometime - is it from her? What does it say?
But, I do see some problems with text messaging. First and foremost - you sacrifice voice inflection for silence and ease. With the loss of voice inflection, a large dose of ambiguity is added. A simple message: "Hey, and don't be late this time." could be interpreted: 1) Hey, you were late last time, don't do it again (said in a stern, serious tone), or maybe 2) Hey, remember that one time we were joking about how you are always late, and now I'm bringing that up again just to be cute and hopefully make you smile, or maybe even 3) This is just a nice friendly reminder that we need to be on time.
This can be the cause for confusion at times, but at the same time I think it has it's awesome benefits as well. Just something interesting to think about.