OMG, Wat haz hppnd 2 diz wrld?

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I received a text message the other day from an unknown number.  The conversation went like this: (all spelling and punctuation have not been changed *names have been changed)

Unknown #: Heyz waz up

Me: Who is this?

Unknown#: who diz iz

At this point I didn’t respond, I was not in the mood to play games and it was obvious they had the wrong number.  So 20 min later it starts again:

Unknown #:  Helloz diz iz *jane

Me: I think you have the wrong # this is Ashley

Unknown #: Oh well *mary gave me diz numba 2 txt and im in 7^th grade and I AM a gurl

Me: I don’t know *Mary and I’m 24. *Mary gave you the wrong #. I’m also a girl, like that matters

Unknown #:  Wat *mary  tld me waz dat u waz a gurl dat livd nxt 2 her and waz her best friend

Me: Ok I live in Berryville my next door neighbor is 94. I promise you have the wrong number. My best friend’s name is Meagan.

Unknown #: Oh so sry!

I’m about to get on my soap box…

More than just the grammar stood out to me in this exchange, but first let’s talk about that. Ok so I know that short hand is much faster and the words are still understandable, I get that, but when did it become ok to spell girl “gurl”. I mean really does it save you any time typing the “U” instead of the correct letter “I”? I don’t think so. Also short hand is for texting, when you are at a computer and you are typing an email, or you are posting a status to FaceBook spell out the words and spell them correctly. I am the first person to admit that I am the worst speller in the world but I manage thanks to Chance and spell check.  Another thing that stood out to me was the age of this “gurl” she is in 7^th grade, what if she had texted a pedophile by mistake? She obviously had no idea who she was texting. It is really scary to know the information she offered up without being asked, I hate to think of what she would have told someone that would have used this situation to a malicious advantage.  The youth of today are so exposed out there; this is not our grandparent’s world anymore. We have to be more cautious, when I was in 7^th grade I was not texting people I didn’t know I didn’t even have a cell phone till I was 16 and I didn’t get texting till I was 18! When I look at my FaceBook news feed I can’t help to notice the younger girls I am friends with, the daughters of some of my friends and my mom’s friends.  I notice how they post when they go to work, and when they are driving home. They post about going to the movies and what movie they are seeing, they now have the “check in” option which allows you to post exactly where you are. It is scary to think that just by looking at someone’s FaceBook page you can tell exactly where they are, if they are offering up the information. My privacy settings are very high on my Face Book and for good reason. I have had a person tell me that they can’t find me, it’s because my settings are so high. For me FaceBook is a way to connect with old friends and new friends that you have met face to face.  I won’t accept someone if I don’t know them and I would hope that today’s youth would do that as well. There is too much evil in this world for young girls, and boys for that matter, to be “friending” perfect strangers.  It scares me to think what it will be like when we have children of that age, will they be spelling “wrds lke diz”? Or will typing and writing be a thing of the past now that the “voice to text” is coming on the scene? Will they have all of their info online for the whole world to see?  Will they be careful about who they text, and who they message and who they are “friends” with? Or will FaceBook be obsolete all together, replaced by something “better”?

Ok I am now stepping down off my soap box.