From the Me Generation to the YouTube Generation

Purists decry modern technology which has us communicating at light speed every fifteen seconds by text messaging and email (for older people). It's not enough that we don't capitalize proper nouns, they say, now we don't even spell out words! LOL! Our language, which used to be divided into formal (writing) and informal (speaking) has become one, long string of vowels and consonants resembling rebus puzzles. That's not what worries me, though; I just don't want to end up on YouTube or FaceBook like so many have recently.
As such, I refuse to send a text message to anybody...not because I'm old, but because it becomes something of a personal record. Don't believe me? Ask the mayor of Detroit who may be facing perjury charges for lying to the courts. The evidence of his prevarication? Hundreds, if not thousands, of text messages he sent. Not for me...I even worry about how what I write in an email might be perceived, emoticons notwithstanding.
And how about the woman in Virginia who, in response to a kid calling her husband to ask why he had not cancelled school because of snow, sent a phone message that included things like "snotty-nosed little brats" and "Get over it kid, and go to school." That ended up as one of the most visited posts on FaceBook, much to her chagrin. Whether or not the young person was within his rights to call a public servant at home or whether or not said servant's wife was right to be exasperated by a lack of privacy is not the point...the point is that anything can be accessed these days.
Just ask the 30 or so high school students in LaCrosse whose pictures showed up engaged in underage drinking, or the running back at Wake Forest University who allegedly placed an anonymous threat to blow up campus on a FaceBook page.
What are these people thinking? (to quote Dr. Phil again)
As for me, you'll never get a text message...EVER... and I may not even leave a phone message the next time you're not home when I call.
The main reason that I will continue to write, however, is that I get to use cool words like "prevarication," "notwithstanding," and "chagrin" at every whim. Try THAT with your txt msg! CUL*R ;)
CUL8R