Cowardice and Texting

Let's talk about bravery, cowardice, and texting.

I'm an introvert. I communicate better through written words than through speaking out loud. Well, that's the easy excuse I always use, anyway. That's why texting looked as if it was the magical answer to all my relational awkwardness.

When I first got my cell phone I thought I was finally apart of the social club that everyone else was in. Now I could talk with everybody all the time and I wouldn't feel lonely or left out anymore. I'd have texting buddies and finally have some real, deep friendships.

It didn't take long for me to find out that this wasn't true. So often I use the term "introvert" as an excuse to not do the scary things and stay in my lonely little comfort zone, and I wonder if there's a better way to do human connection than through short little black words on our screens.

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How in the world could we - I - have thought that instant written words could take the place - be even better - than conversations face to face? When you talk to someone in person, you get that element that no social media site can give you, human connection. You can look into their eyes and see emotion and what they really mean behind their words. You pick up unconsciously - almost like a superpower - body language, no matter how slight and unnoticeable it is.

When you text, you just get words against a blank white screen - able to be interpreted in about a hundred different ways.

I think culture's texting obsession is a matter of courage - and the lack of it. Face to face conversation is hard. Especially when you've got something hard to say, something that's close to your heart. When I cop out of the hard things that could grow me, however, and I just text it, I believe I miss out on what could've been a much deeper relationship building conversation instead.

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So I'd like to apologize to every person I've ever texted instead of talked to in person. I took the easy way out, because human connection scares me. Exposing who I really am is something I rarely have the courage to do. But human connection is what God has made us for, no matter how hard it is. and I'm ready to be courageous. I'm willing to dare to do things differently than the rest of society. To strive for the harder and better things, instead of settling for the familiar and easy.

So next time I have something to say, be warned, I'm going to say it out loud.

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