Texty text.

Now. Don't get me wrong. I love a good text message conversation. For the times when verbal conversation exerts too much energy. And trust me, I've been there.

But there are some conversations that should be reserved for actual human speech. Announcing a pregnancy scare, for example. Or if you have to tell someone that their dog has died. Or if there's some sort of medical emergency of some kind.

There's also another type of conversation that should extend past the text message forum. The "I can't tell in what tone that was meant" conversation.

It's difficult to interpret tone through a text message. The simple word "whatever" can be nonchalant, passive aggressive, dismissive, or annoyed. Someone can be offended by something that was meant to be innocent.

A Friend of mine is a habitual texter. He's had many a relationship ended via text message. One of his recent dalliances was made complicated by his boyfriend feeling that things were becoming distant. What was his evidence of the distance? "He seemed distant in his text messages."

WHAT.

Just the other day, a Guy he's been talking to was spotted at dinner by a friend, and texted my Friend. Friend texted Guy and asked him what he was doing. When he answered that he was at dinner, Friend asked who he was with. The conversation snowballed to accusations of lying and stalking and CRAZY.

This situation may not have been able to be saved by an actual phone call, but I guarantee you that text messages that are confusing and borderline offensive can be saved by talking.

Too many gays that I know depend solely on text messages for their communication needs, which, when given their snarky nature, will probably eventually cause problems. All of which can be solved by talking instead of texting.