In the Philippines, your mobile phone is your life line. Without it, you cease to exist. Your social world is locked inside the memory of your cell phone. If you lose it, you will have to start from scratch. On the bright side, as long as you have an extensive list of contacts in your cell phone, you'll never be alone.
The magic word is 'load'. 'Load' is the amount of credit you have left on your account and, consequently, the number of messages you can still send. Filipinos are always looking for load. If they don't have it, they will send special free messages to their friends asking to 'pass-a-load'. If they have load, they will spend it in the blink of an eye.
It's nice if you have a purpose in texting someone, but it's surely not necessary. Sometimes, you get a message from a complete stranger early in the morning that reads 'Hi'. If you take the challenge, you're in for a game of 'find out who this is' that can go on for quite some time.
Texting is a great social leveller. Basically, if you can get hold of someone's number, that entitles you to text that person. If you would ever manage to get the president's number, don't hesitate: text na lang. You never know if she replies... After all, during her last state of the nation, she said that texting is a way of life and tried to ease the pains of our faltering economy by reducing the price of a text message by one half. Where else than in the Philippines would a president even dare to come up with that?
Some people know each other only through texting. So-called text gangs grow from people passing on numbers to other people, passing it on to other people... If you ever get involved in this, you'll be answering text messages for the rest of the day.
It's easy to get addicted to texting, and I must admit I have also fallen for it. It's cheap and it gives you something to do while your in a jeepney or on a bus or just turning thumbs at home. And above all, it keeps you virtually connected to people you may never meet again in real life.
The magic word is 'load'. 'Load' is the amount of credit you have left on your account and, consequently, the number of messages you can still send. Filipinos are always looking for load. If they don't have it, they will send special free messages to their friends asking to 'pass-a-load'. If they have load, they will spend it in the blink of an eye.
It's nice if you have a purpose in texting someone, but it's surely not necessary. Sometimes, you get a message from a complete stranger early in the morning that reads 'Hi'. If you take the challenge, you're in for a game of 'find out who this is' that can go on for quite some time.
Texting is a great social leveller. Basically, if you can get hold of someone's number, that entitles you to text that person. If you would ever manage to get the president's number, don't hesitate: text na lang. You never know if she replies... After all, during her last state of the nation, she said that texting is a way of life and tried to ease the pains of our faltering economy by reducing the price of a text message by one half. Where else than in the Philippines would a president even dare to come up with that?
Some people know each other only through texting. So-called text gangs grow from people passing on numbers to other people, passing it on to other people... If you ever get involved in this, you'll be answering text messages for the rest of the day.
It's easy to get addicted to texting, and I must admit I have also fallen for it. It's cheap and it gives you something to do while your in a jeepney or on a bus or just turning thumbs at home. And above all, it keeps you virtually connected to people you may never meet again in real life.
4 comments:
to all txt addicted Filipinos out there - there is a life beyond texting!!! get one.
i know who you mean in the last sentence! hmmmm. ;)
This is sooooo True! Great article! :)
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