I hate text messaging. I always have, and I’m pretty sure I always will. There’s something about condensing the English language into as few keystrokes as possible and avoiding all the rules of grammar and punctuation that I find repulsive, but recently I’ve found even more reasons to hate the cell phone texting trend.

There are only a few things that I find as annoying as text messages. E-mail forwards, solicitors and bad drivers are on the top of the list, and thanks to modern technology, now all of those things can occur as a result of text messaging.

I was surprised when I started receiving text messages from telemarketers. Although they were mostly for things like ring tones and questionable “dating services,” I wouldn’t have expected anyone to start texting the offers to an array of cell phone users. It never occurred to me to register my cell phone number on the Do Not Call list, but after receiving multiple text messages advertising an array of services, I quickly did. So far, it seems to have worked; unfortunately, the Do Not Call list can’t stop all the unwanted messages.