I have a cell phone and for the most part I hate every single thing about it. I get calls from people I don’t want to talk to. I get calls from people I want to talk to, but at the most inconvenient times. More importantly I get text messages. Keep in mind that I personally think that text messaging is probably one of the worst inventions ever. The typical American will spend minutes typing, with their thumbs, what they could have said in seconds with their mouths.
The biggest reason that I hate text messaging is because I do not have it included in my cell phone plan. This means that whenever a lazy friend of mine decides to send me one, I get charged almost a quarter for the damned thing.
A quarter isn’t much, but when people keep sending them to you, they can rack up an impressive amount on your bill. What’s even worse is now the service provider has sold my number to all sorts of telemarketers who text message me with silly offers. Even the cell phone company themselves will send me text messages about a new phone or service they are offering. And who pays for all these unwanted messages you may ask, well it’s me, the consumer, of course.
Then I heard a story about how political candidates and politics in general will start to text message people to remind them to vote. Okay, so that means that the millions of dollars spent in radio and television advertisements aren’t good enough. Nobody must read print anymore, because certainly no one is paying attention to the paper advertisements either.
I’ve always felt that campaigning was annoying to begin with, but now not only will candidates raise money from special interest groups to fund their campaigns, they will also be taking money right out of John Q. Public’s pocket when sending this bloody messages.
I wouldn’t care so much, if I wasn’t getting charged for it. Besides doesn’t this seem like overkill? You won’t be able to spit come 2008, without hitting a campaign poster. Do we really need to be pestered in this manner?
It also seems like an invasion of privacy. I bought a cell phone so my friends and family can get in touch with me at anytime anywhere. I didn’t buy one so politicians can spread their spin on it.
I commend the politicians for recognizing popular technological trends and wanting to take advantage of them. I commend them for reaching out to younger voters as well. However, they keep making the same mistakes. Younger voters are not going to vote because you inundate them with visual/textual reminders. You have to make voting worthwhile. You may be appealing to high school/ college aged students who use lots of text messaging but you still aren’t talking about anything that would interest them.
If anything annoying younger voters with reminders to vote, when they have no real interest or want to vote, will only discourage them further. Most people will just blow it off and complain, much like I am now, about how stupid these text messages are.
I will vote in 2008. I already know who it’s going to be. So everyone out there can stop trying to change my mind. Let me make one thing clear though; I have no interest in voting for Hillary Clinton, but if she sends me a text message that I get charged for, the gloves are coming off.
J. Lewis '07
Wilkes University
Communication Studies Major
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