Away with Words

I read a disturbing newspaper article asking the question whether texting is ruining the art of conversation.  The example given by the reporter was the story of a young girl upstairs in her bedroom who texted her mother (who was in the kitchen) what she wanted for breakfast.  The mother instantly confronted her daughter, telling her to speak to her, not text her.  Nowadays, people are reportedly choosing to text instead of talk over the phone or in person.  Yet, there are still those (like me) who enjoy the spoken word -- face-to-face communication where the accurate reading of nonverbal communication is still a necessary skill. Someone told me about a young relative whose way of speaking had become so fragmented, filled with texting slang, that she called him on it and instructed him to talk in complete sentences.  On another recent occasion, a friend informed me that more and more online social media communication will take place using pictures, instead of words.  For someone like me who loves the written word and face-to-face communication, this is worrisome news. Are we tossing away words, disregarding the fine art of conversing with each other and reverting back to caveman drawings in order to tell our stories?   All I can say is:  O.M.G. (Oh, My Goodness in text-speak)!