Another sign of age

I came across this article the other day -- or a version of it anyway -- in the Ames paper. It talks about how the younger generation is less enchanted with e-mail and going more with instant messaging and text messaging. And I have to admit that it is probably yet another sign that I'm no longer a part of the "younger generation." I can count the number of times I've actually text messaged on one hand -- and that was several years ago. I find it laborious and annoying and I'd so much rather just type an e-mail as opposed to having to use a phone keypad to send a text message.

And as far as instant messaging goes, I'm a little more into that, but not nearly like I used to be. There was a time that every time I sat down to the computer I had to boot up Yahoo! Instant Messenger. Now, it's not even loaded on my computer. However, I do like Google Chat which is integrated with Gmail -- it helps me stay in touch with a few friends that I don't see very often but also have Gmail.

But overall, I'm pretty happy with e-mail. Of course, I can't remember the last time I actually sent someone a letter via the USPS (although I was tempted recently when I was trying to find a friend that I'd lost track of electronically but had found a snail mail address for.) I don't get tons of e-mail -- as a direct contrast to my wife who can literally spend an hour just trying to sort through all her e-mail. At times, it makes me jealous, as I really wish I had more in my inbox than an occasional Classmates.com spam -- at least on a more regular basis. But the fact of the matter is that I'm not always the best e-mail correspondent as it can take me forever to respond to an e-mail that I get.

So what to do? Who knows. I'm fine with getting older and not being hip and cool anymore -- hell, I never really was so what's to lose. So I guess I'll stick with my e-mail and Google Chat.