The world in numbers

You wanna see something creepy? Guy came to my job to help out with some repairs (damn broken heater), and we got to talking about the number of people who use the internet in a given day.

It's hard to say what I'm more freaked out by, the global population, the growing debt, the carbon dioxide output, or the number of people who spend their time in front of some sort of electronic device (TV, computer, cell phone, etc.) vs. the number of new books published.

What did you find most interesting/creepy?

Digital deviousness: the text messaging trap

Like anyone between the ages of 1 to 30 years of age, I text message. A lot. In many ways, I prefer text messaging to talking on the phone.

Talking requires conversation and a fake acknowledgment of things I don't care about at *that* specific moment:

"Hey, it's me..."
"Hey, how are you?"
"Not bad. Counting the minutes until I'm off of work. You?"
"Meh, about to go to a meeting. I hate meetings..."
"Yeah, they can be pretty boring."

A few minutes in and I still haven't gotten to the point! What was the point?

"Hey, I get off in an hour. Want to grab lunch at Crown Burger?"

But this convenient mode of communication comes with a price.

I thought I was getting a deal with Verizon's unlimited text messaging program. Not exactly. According to the New York Times article, "What Carriers Aren't Eager to Tell You About Texting," the cost to send these tiny, 160 character messages is minuscule. Minuscule. But I pay an extra $10 or so a month for unlimited messages, and I don't even send 300/month.

I think I'm getting ripped off...