Mr. Eric Woods [dot] com

Here’s the deal. Have you ever been minding your business and then out of  nowhere you get a text  message? You read the text message everything is cool and you set your phone back down. Then you get another text message right away. This time it’s something you really wouldn’t want to read and your wondering why the person who sent the message had even sent it to you in the first place. Next thing you know your phone is blowing up with all of these pointless, irrelevant text  messages that you could care less about. I’m sure everyone has experienced this at least once. Hell, I’m sure a lot of people are actually going through it now. What I’m talking about it “Textual Harassment”. I know it sounds funny and made up but its can be a HUGE pain in the ass. Sometimes it can even become serious and considered a type of stalking, but I’ll just be voicing my opinion about the lighter side.  

Now how does this “Textual Harassment” start? I always wonder that myself. Every single time I get a text I think to myself “Who started this worthless piece of crap?” and “Why did I get this?” I think for the most part people think that it is harmless and just want to share a part of their day or a funny joke or even some kind of news with someone. So naturally they forward the message to their friends. This is where it gets out of hand. As soon as said friends receive the message they feel the need to keep it going so they forward it to their friends, who forward to their friends and so on n so forth. So now you have about five people who really genuinely cared about the message…and anywhere from ten to thousands of people who received this message and can care less. 

I’m usually one of people that gets messages forwarded to them and I really don’t like it at all, lol. There has to be a way to stop this horrible network etiquette, lol. I mean seriously if the people who do this all the time think about it, its kind of annoying. Think about it this way. When you’re walking down the street in the city and you pass the people that  are standing on each and every block handing out flyers and pretty much trying to force one into your hands doesn’t that bother you? ESPECIALLY when its some irrelevant bit of information that does not help you in any way.

So what are the common types of annoying “Textual Harassment” that most will receive on the daily basis? They are usually along the lines of chain letters and silly jokes. Most of the time starting like so….This is a good luck email/text. FWD this message to at least 20 people or you’ll have bad  luck for the rest of the year.” or I thought this was funny you should check it out.” Something along those lines. When the creators of these messages send them out to the initial bunch of people I don’t think that they mean for the messages to get  spread WORLD wide lol. Then on the other hand I think that some people do it on purpose and try to create kind of like a “viral text message/email” 

Whatever the case may be, the fact of the matter is that these messages wouldn’t even make it past the initial group of people if it wasn’t for the enablers! Yup that’s right! lol. We all know a few, some of us might even be  that enabler. What am I talking about? You know damn well what and who I’m talking about. The person that gets a messages and cant help but to pass it on without a second thought. It’s harmless to them really because to them they are just sharing something that they enjoyed. I actually spoke to a couple of  people about this just to see what they thought about it and I this had to be my favorite response. 

“Lol! I can’t think of any “Textual Harassment” situations. I love text messaging! I’d probably be the one guilty of “Textual Harassment”, Lol!! I text lines from songs, movies, commercials, and other dumb stuff to people all day long. And I don’t even have unlimited texting.” 

Now that is too funny!! That person might not be an enabler but moreso one of the people who would text you to the point where you might say…DAMN are they working? They Don’t mean to be a bother and they are just really sharing things they believe to be funny, but sometimes it could get a little out of hand with the texting. Another response I received was:

“OMG, I can’t stand that crap. Why in the world does someone feel the need to fwd me every single last email and/or dumb chain letter they receive? I mean really. God is not going to send me to hell if I don’t forward an email. Jesus will not stop loving me if I don’t spread his word….through email. And I more than likely will not have 20 years of bad luck if I don’t fwd a stupid angel/blessing email. These damn messages are a pain in the ass and I wonder if the people who send/fwd this crap think before they hit send. All it would take is a quick 10 seconds to think..”hmm would this person even care about this BS I’m about to send them? Should I waste their valuable time with this?” If everyone did that before just sending messages to EVERYONE on their contact list then this wouldn’t be a problem. WOO SAH….ok I’m done venting lol”

LMFAO! that right there is a serious victim. That response pretty much sums up how I felt about the matter also. Just have some consideration when forwarding and sending messages.

Everything I just spoke about it just the tip of the iceberg with this topic though. There are way more things that fall under “Textual Harassment”. Like those constant “When can we hook up?” text messages. Also its not often considered by most to be under this category but people talking to you at anytime and getting EXTRA comfortable with you through text. You know, when people get brave through text and say things to you that they would never say face to face.  

If you do a quick google search you can find way more information about the subject than what I touched on because like I said before, this is just the tip of the iceberg. With that said next time you receive a message people just take a couple of seconds to think about who you send it to before you hit send….you might save yourself from being blocked or banned on someones contact list in the future, lol

How do you tell if your addicted to the net or not? Hell I don’t even know where to start on that topic.  Some people say that its impossible to have an internet addiction because that type of disorder doesn’t exist. While others will say that internet addiction does exist and its a serious problem for a lot of people.  I must take the side that says the addiction exist. If I didn’t I wouldn’t be able to explain what the hell is wrong with myself, lol

There are MANY people that are in the same boat. If they aren’t sitting at a computer on the net then there’s a problem! OH WAIT no there isn’t because they more than likely have a mobile device with full internet browsing capabilities, or even worse a netbook/laptop with them at all times! 

Damn, I’m guilty of all of the above lol. 

If  you do a google search for Internet Addiction you’ll find all of these sites that explain the topic and also give you an option to take a test. This way you can see just how much of a GEEK you really are

I took one of the test just for the heck of it and the damn thing told me that my time spent on the internet is greatly affecting my life and personal relationship, lol. Isn’t that some @#$%! I mean yea I might dabble on the net for long periods at a time and I may always have a internet capable device attached to my hand. I may also be ON that device every second I can get, but that in NO WAY is any indication that I am addicted to the internet. Nor does it indicate that it is greatly affecting my life and personal relationship. I mean I HAVE to be on the net all the time because I conduct a lot of business over it and I need to be accessible at all time…….RIGHT? YEA, THATS IT! lol. Now for those that say that internet addiction doesn’t exist I really don’t see their reasoning for saying so. With anything else if you indulge in it too much then its an addiction right? Things like Gambling, drinking, smoking, shopping, eating are all things you can be addicted to. What makes the internet different?

Supposedly the whole idea and term Internet addiction was made up as a joke by a fellow named Dr. Ivan Goldberg. The guy is famous for naming a disorder that he says doesn’t exist, lol. Check out this except from an web article I found on About.com

 

Ivan Goldberg, M.D. started it all as a joke. Internet addiction disorder was intended as a parody of addiction disorders. Instead it has become a subject of research, and some people seem to be building their careers on it.

Janelle Brown, in a December 1996 Wired article quotes Goldberg as saying: “It’s all bullshit…. There’s no such thing as Internet addiction. The Internet is about as addictive as work: Sure, there are workaholics, but they’re simply working to avoid the other problems in their lives.”

 

So now you know where I’m going with this right? If this disorder/addiction doesn’t exist……then what the hell is wrong with me? Why do I feel like I need to be on/connected to the net at ALL times? Maybe my net addiction stems from another one of my addictions……I’m also addicted to TECHNOLOGY. Yes I’m a techy so you can always catch me making a trip to Best Buy or sitting in some electronics section of a department store, but that story is for another time and another day. 

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