Have any idea what this means?
"Whts ^? Wnt 2 go 2 *$ l8r? 4COL I had lng day. Lmk ttyl."
For those too out of it and not cool enough to know — get with the times. It clearly means: "What's up? Want to go to Starbucks later? For crying out loud I had a long day. Let me know, talk to you later."
People (teens mostly) can spend the time to make up these acronyms for text messages. But they won't answer the phone when you call.
According to a recent survey from Nielsen, the average teen sends more than 3,339 texts per month. This would be more than six texts per hour, a solid 8 percent increase from the previous year. At the same time, calling has decreased by 14 percent in the same age group.
On the weekend, I often find myself texting my friends, trying to make plans. As the night creeps closer, I get bored of texting and of having our plans go nowhere, so I decide it's time to call and get plans made. I confidently take out my phone and call my friend. It rings once, twice, five times, eight times. Voice mail. Not cool. I know that they have their phone, because they were just texting me seconds before.
Shortly after calling, I receive a message: "Did you call"? Obviously! I'll then call them again, and still no answer. Why, you ask? Because they were "in the car" or their "parents were in the room." I can understand this once in a while, but not every time I call. The real reason is because they are socially awkward and haven't developed enough social skill to actually talk.
The biggest complaints people make about talking on the phone is that is takes too long, or is too intrusive. But the fact is you accomplish in a three-minute conversation what takes 30 back-and-forth text messages. Talking forces people to have give immediate responses and eliminates the time to linger. You also don't have to spend time trying to invent new acronyms.