BBC Sherlock Fan Forum - Serving Sherlockians since February 2012 » Do older adults text each other?

BrettHolmes · September 12, 2014 11:44 pm

I know this might seem like a personal question but the characters in “Sherlock” do it all the time so it makes me wonder. I know that teens and people in their twenties do it but I don’t know if people age 40 or older do text messaging. Personally, I have never been the kind of person to keep up with the latest trends and technology even though I’m still young.

tonnaree · September 13, 2014 2:23 am

I'm 52 and my husband is 49. We text each other all the time. Both practical texts such as "Please pick up Milk on the way home." (Copyright S. Holmes) and sweet little thinking of you/love you texts.

Liberty · September 13, 2014 6:40 am

My father (in his 80s), doesn't text. But everybody I know in their 40s, 50s and 60s text.

TeeJay · September 13, 2014 6:49 am

I'm 38, and I text as well, though not very frequently, mostly only to arrange things, like where and how to meet someone, and things like that. I use WhatsApp too. Most of my friends are 35 and over, and some text often, some don't. It's a widely used tool throughout all age groups now. Funnily enough, I think my mum (at 66) might even text more often than I do.

Last edited by TeeJay (September 13, 2014 6:51 am)

MartaSt · September 13, 2014 7:54 am

My whole family text, my mother, father, even my grandmother (and she is 80). To be honest she is texting much more than I

Harriet · September 13, 2014 8:14 am

For teens it's getting outfashioned already.

besleybean · September 13, 2014 8:16 am

Text is my fave form of ' distant' communication.

A lovely light · September 13, 2014 8:27 am

I use text a lot. My hubbyhas a lots of meetings, he cannot answer, so i send him text whoch he can read when he has time for it. As well, i send a lot of lists or information he needs written other way he forget them (like buy bananas or some other very important things-which-usually-get-lost-in-my-hubby-head)

Liberty · September 13, 2014 8:40 am

Harriet wrote:
For teens it's getting outfashioned already.

True.

(My credentials: mother of teenager).

Last edited by Liberty (September 13, 2014 8:41 am)

SusiGo · September 13, 2014 8:43 am

My kids are 19 and 15 and almost exclusively use Whatsapp. So do I. I hardly use texts anymore.

Last edited by SusiGo (September 13, 2014 8:47 am)

besleybean · September 13, 2014 9:52 am

See I'm such a technophobe...I don't even know what that is!
But then, I don't have a smart phone.

eurydike · September 13, 2014 10:36 am

My friends and I are all in our early to mid-thirties and we mostly use text messages because a lot of us don't feel like buying Smartphones and using WhatsApp yet, so... texts are a great tool for us.

Davina · September 13, 2014 10:36 am

I text a lot. I definitely count in the category of older adult! My kids (20 & 22) tend to use other Apps to communicate more than SMS. My husband texts a bit when necessary but seems remarkably bad at responding to them (that is more to do with his gender than his age though!)

Liberty · September 13, 2014 10:49 am

Just to add, although I do use texts when I have to, I hate them. I find them really difficult to write. I use predictive text which gives me ridiculous suggestions and often I give up and just send whatever the predictive text has chosen and leave the receiver to guess what I was trying to say. My son finds this amusing. Also, I can never condense what I want to say into a few words. Plus I feel a need to punctuate and capitalise properly so it takes me longer. I do use text speak with my son sometimes, but again, because it amuses him. I also hate people checking texts when I'm talking to them. It's not urgent! I remember when I didn't have a phone for years, and had to walk to a phone box that smelled of wee (or worse) whenever I wanted to phone people. Which wasn't very often, because my friends didn't have phones either. If I wanted to tell them something I had to walk round to their house and say it to their face or leave them a note. Mutter, mutter, mutter .....

Draconia · September 13, 2014 2:47 pm

I am 35 and so is my husband and we text each other all the time

silverblaze · September 13, 2014 3:49 pm

I'm 28, my mother is in her fifties and she uses Whatsapp a lot more than me.

La Jolie · September 18, 2014 6:58 am

Liberty wrote:
Just to add, although I do use texts when I have to, I hate them. ... Also, I can never condense what I want to say into a few words. Plus I feel a need to punctuate and capitalise properly so it takes me longer.

LOL, Liberty - if I wasn't fairly sure that you're a bit older than me, I'd say we were separated at birth...

I hate texting, too, and I (37) use it only for practical arrangements, too (like where to meet, what to shop for). It's sloooooow, but I prefer it to making phone calls because I tend not to want to interrupt whatever people are doing with mundane things like "run out of milk" and "running ten minutes late".

What I like about texts is that they're, you know, very reduced, very plain and unadorned. No images, no smileys, no fancy media inserts, just plain content. That's very useful for people who find that everything else is a waste of time. I think that's why Sherlock likes them, too.

That said, I have no alternative to texting, because I don't have a smartphone either. They scare me, not because they're too complicated technically but because of what they can do and what they know. My husband's got an iPhone from his work, he's required to use it, but it scares him, too. We've dubbed it the MyPhone, because it's like having a little Mycroft in your pocket who knows exactly where you are, what you are saying, where everyone else is, and what you're going to do next.

mrshouse · September 18, 2014 7:12 am

I do both texts and Whatsapp. Sometimes it is also quicker than to talk on the phone and get lost in a longish chat.
Group whatsapp is also great for example amongst our team at hospital, discussing our shifts, switching etc.

ancientsgate · September 20, 2014 10:03 pm

BrettHolmes wrote:
I know this might seem like a personal question but the characters in “Sherlock” do it all the time so it makes me wonder. I know that teens and people in their twenties do it but I don’t know if people age 40 or older do text messaging. Personally, I have never been the kind of person to keep up with the latest trends and technology even though I’m still young.

Nowadays, in order to keep up with the pace of the world the way it is, people of all ages have to keep up with technology, either that, or get run over as everyone races by. So yeah, I know a lot of people my age (mid-60s) who text. But I do not, because I live in a cave and frankly don't care who runs around, over and through me.

Last edited by ancientsgate (September 20, 2014 10:07 pm)

ancientsgate · September 20, 2014 10:06 pm

Liberty wrote:
....I use predictive text which gives me ridiculous suggestions and often I give up and just send whatever the predictive text has chosen and leave the receiver to guess what I was trying to say....

I don't text so don't know, I'm just asking, but can't you disable (turn off) the predictive text feature? I know you can disable spellchecker, for instance. No? I'd be darned if I'd use any technology that insisted on making my text read wrong, but that's just me.