Happy birthday, Text Message. Twenty years ago Monday, the first text/SMS message was sent by an engineer 
in the United Kingdom. What did it say? “Merry Christmas.” The convenience may be handy, but I am not a fan of this technological wonder. No, it isn't merely a writer's distaste for the further erosion of language. More and more, technology takes us away from intimacy, from full-on, person-to-person interaction. Words have more meaning and are better understood when we can combine them with facial expression and tone of voice. Miscommunications happen more easily without those; the same words may be joke or insult, statement or question, indictment or satire. Still, you can't stop progress. Text has come a long way/Sholeh Patrick, Coeur dAlene Press. More here.
Question: Has the social media enriched your life? Or diminished it?
D.F. Oliveria is a columnist and blogger for The Spokesman-Review. Huckleberries Online was judged the best 2008 Idaho newspaper blog by the Idaho Press Club. And the best 2007 news blog in the Pacific Northwest by the Society for Professional Journalist. Print Huckleberries is a past winner of the Herb Caen Memorial Column contest by the National Association of Newspaper Columnists. The Readership Institute of Northwestern University cited this blog as a good example of online community journalism.
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