Text-Mess

Cell phones. Emails. Text-messaging. Facebook. Myspace (RIP). Twitter.
The blessed gifts of today's technology.
While initial intentions were surely to bring people closer together, I truly believe that technology has torn us all apart. Better yet, it doesn't even allow us to create real relationships that are worth holding together.
These easy, false friendships.
When someone doesn't respond to a text or comment on a status update or reply to us on twitter, our actual loneliness behind the computer screen/cell phone/tablet turns into cyber-resentment.

Here's the thing about text: In texting, tweeting or just plain old typing, very few people have the ability to imbue sub-text. Even fewer people have the ability to glean the sub-text within the context of a text.
We are all guilty. If not by assuming the meaning of an ambiguous message to mean more - or less - than what is actually intended, then by being the person who sends said message. We have all sent the "I'm tired of talking to you but I would rather you stop texting me first so I'm going to send ambiguous non-committal responses to whatever you're saying until you leave me alone" message. These messages include, but are not limited to, 'words' such as "smh", "K", "dunno" and the all-encompassing "LOL". Let's be real, you are not really laughing out loud. It was not that funny.
What I have seen, more often than than not, is that outside of text (AKA real-life), some folks just don't know how to act. The natural evolution of a 'comfort-zone' between two people who are getting to know each other is stunted. Uncomfortable, even if necessary, conversations are halted abruptly - because they can be. All of a sudden the person normally responding at record text speed is leaving hour-long gaps between responses. No non-smiley facial expressions. No natural emotional reactions. No real connection.
What's worse is that we are generally more forgiving of a non-responsive texter than a non-responsive talker. The excuse is almost always that we don't know what the other person is doing while we were waiting for their text. Imaginary emergency situations are always the first to pop up in your mind. There's always the possibility of them being in transport or having a conversation with their grandmother who lives in a foreign country on the phone. But honestly, nine times out of ten, they've seen your message, chosen not to respond to it and have likely texted, tweeted or commented on someone else's new Facebook profile picture while you're waiting for a response.
As someone who knows someone (read: me) who has built a 'relationship', broken down over the lack of relating in said 'relationship' and broken up said 'relationship' via text, I can only advise against this being the primary mode of communication. I beg of you, masses: Call, meet up, go out and create connections with people in real time. Allow for emotional responses in person. Learn how someone actually lives their life instead of just how they tell you they do. Convenience is NOT always key. Real relationships are built on commitment and compromise. 'Love' is indeed an action word and it requires actions, not just text, to be sustained. So think twice the next time you meet someone on Facebook, email them your phone number and start a textual relationship. You might start something that easily transforms from flirty text messages to dinner, movies and matrimony but, more likely than not, you might get stuck in a cyber faux-mance.