Cell phones are wonderful things.

I take that back; actually, they’re pretty awful.

The days when people didn’t worry if they were out of touch with the world for hours, even days, at a time are long since past.

Nowadays, if we’re in an area with no cell phone reception we worry we’ll miss an important call.

Parents give their young children one to keep track of them when they’re not at home. Employers give their employees one so they can call all hours of the day and night and the &uot;I wasn’t at home&uot; excuse is no longer applicable.

But what do children, teenagers, and young adults do with their cell phones?

They text, that’s what.

Forget old-fashioned talking on the phone; they’d rather type it out, instant-message style.

The language that is used in text is called SMS language.

It reads like gibberish to the uninitiated, but its purpose is to use the smallest number of characters possible while still getting the point across.

Here’s a typical cell phone texting conversation:

Girl: hey how r u?

Boy: ok, u?

Girl: good. wuz up?

Boy: nm, u?

Girl: n2m

Boy: wanna do sumthin l8r?

Girl: k

Boy: where u wanna go?

Girl: n e where but here

Boy: lol

Girl: u hngry?

Boy: no i 8 b4

Girl: y u ask me out thn?

Boy: idk y

Girl: jw

Boy: oic

Girl: btw i g2g 2 wrk @ 11

Boy: ww bb thn

Girl: gr8

Boy: so wht r we doing 2nite?

Girl: idc

Boy: lmk b4 5

Girl: np

Boy: c u l8r

Girl: omg ok jst lv thn

Boy: sry, drvng, g2g, ilu

Girl: k nvm, was jk, ilu2

Boy: ty

Girl: ttyl

Boy: l8r

Is it any wonder people concentrate so hard when texting? It’s a lot of work to type and interpret a second language at such a rapid-fire pace.

The real problem comes when we let slip those abbreviation in real-life, face-to-face talk.

If you’ve ever slipped out an &uot;lol&uot; when talking to somebody in person, it’s time to put the keyboards and keypads away.

Want to let me know what you think?

Have a suggestion for a future column?

Feel free send an email to: jennipher.dickens@r-cnews.com.