Mass Texting: Rude Behavior or a way for busy folks to keep in touch?
It’s the holiday season; a time to celebrate religious observances, a time to enjoy friends, family, food, and gifts . And, of course, the time of the year to send mass text holiday greetings to everyone (or most everyone) in your phone address book.
This has been my tradition for years. For as long as I’ve owned a mobile device capable of texting, I have often made use of the mass texting feature. Sometimes, these were ill advised self-promotional deals. One time I sent a mass text asking for prayer for my grandfather who was gravely ill and I received a response that said “You don’t know me well enough to ask me for prayer, so I won’t do it.” While, this was a decidedly rude response, I suppose an argument could be made that mass texts are annoying and less personal.
With this in mind, I tried one Thanksgiving to send an individual message to most everyone in my phone book. 120 messages and six hours later, I was done. It was not worth it. I resumed the mass texting binges that Christmas.
But, really, I never saw the big deal. Yet, often, I get snarky responses to mass texts. Sometimes these come from family members, sometimes from acquaintances. Often they said things akin to “If you can’t take the time to write me a personal message, then don’t send me anything.”
I’ve taken to deleting such acquaintances from my phone. I don’t need rude responses when I’m doing something nice. Or at least with niceness as the intention.
I find rude retorts troubling and arrogant. Certainly it is nice to receive a message written specifically for you, but this is not always feasible. I CHOSE to send you a message, It’s still a personal message. I could have chosen NOT to include you. Just because I sent it to a hundred or so folks at the same time doesn’t mean it’s not personal. I don’t see the big deal and I really don’t understand why people will respond rudely when they get a mass text. I’m happy, even when I know it’s a mass text, to be included. Do people have a misplaced sense of entitlement and self-importance, or is this truly rude behavoiur?
This is different, of course, if I am attempting to sell something. Then I can certainly see the annoyance in a mass text…especially if the only time I texted was when I was selling or promoting something. I have been guilty of this in the past, though not anymore. Now, we have Facebook :-)
But, if it’s just a friendly holiday greeting… why get up in arms? Why respond with a rude comment? Why respond at all if you’re irritated? It’s the holidays, it’s busy. The fact that I took five minutes out my day to include you in a holiday greeting should show you that I think you’re important and valuable, even if I didn’t include your name in the body of the text. We are busy people. We do what we can to stay in touch.
Does anyone else agree? Am I off base, or is mass texting a rude behavior? Should people get over themselves or do they have a right to gripe?
Tell me. I’m dying to know.
