How important are you

@savypat (20216)
United States
October 9, 2010 9:29am CST
This is a question that I ask my teen age visitors. Will the world stop if you do not text for a couple of hours. Will your friends all leave you? Will they be mad? I remember being on the phone for hours with people I had just spend all day with, but those calls were strictly regulated. And guess what the next morning life went on as usual. Face to face visits with real people are fast becoming a rare thing. Just think about this the next time you are visiting Grandparents, or other friends and family and get that terrible urge to text your time away.
4 people like this
16 responses
• Philippines
9 Oct 10
You're right. We can be important to other people and yet we don't know it. We need to realize that others need us even just for our presence. We might think that it's pointless but it's not.
3 people like this
@zandi458 (28102)
• Malaysia
9 Oct 10
I don't think I have created an impact in anybody's life. I am just who I am that passes everyday without being noticed or appreciated. My husband said recently that my 3 months away in Australia did not create any changes at home. Meaning to say, with or without me he find no difference in his life. I feel sad but have to put up a brave face to show that I am a strong lady but deep inside me my heart is crying.
2 people like this
• Philippines
9 Oct 10
Its really sad about having no difference in their life, but cheer up, your husband has soft side of his heart that would shout out your name and asking you to be with him. When you're in a long distance relationship, they would deny that, but a person like you would make a difference,though we are not that close, each person is important.
@savypat (20216)
• United States
10 Oct 10
This just shows how well you have set up the things that you do. Without that talent you could not have been gone so long without being missed. In fact many homes and families fall apart with Mom gone that long. Don't be sad, be proud.
@paula27661 (15811)
• Australia
11 Oct 10
It’s funny I got to the stage where if I had to be away from my phone or my emails the whole time I was away I would be wondering who was trying to contact me only to realise when I did check my phone or my emails that not much had happened while I was away and it is not big deal to catch up. It is not worth losing your present moments with your loved ones worrying about the next text or email.
1 person likes this
@gunagohan (3414)
• India
9 Oct 10
I have used the messaging facility in the phone for a very long time. In college almost we send messages to friends throughout the day. In college we meet each other and talk throughout the day, when we reach home in the evening, the first thing, we reach for our mobile and start sending messages. Talking in phone became a rare event and messages became an important event. This text message stayed with me for 4 years and when i completed my college, this process almost stopped, we were separated and went to different places and we stopped this messaging and almost i often find a rare thing to send a message.. Only we exchange important messages. During our college days i almost send around 100 messages per day at an average per day. I find this messaging as an addict .. It really had hurt me in the past, messaging friends and leaving my relatives by not talking with them and avoiding them
2 people like this
@chayapathys (2111)
• India
10 Oct 10
I am important to myself only and to no body else.Similarly every one is importwnt to himself or herself and to no one else.But some people are under the wrong impression that they are very to others.That is a wrong notion.The world gets on itself wheter you are there or not.How many importnt persons were there in the past, kings, poets etc who all thought that they were important.They have all gone but the world goes on as usual.In the case of husband and wife also one precedes the other sometime or other but will the other spouse end his or her life.NO.This ia in the creation of god.That is why the god has bestowed mankind with the greatest trait of forgetfulnes."Out of sight is out of mind" is the fmous saying.....
1 person likes this
• Philippines
10 Oct 10
I think I have to maintain the old-fashioned way of dealing with my visitors. Although gadget and technology are helpful in this world of ours, it is important to deal with them personally. The world may change but this way of dealing our visitors will be remained. We must not fully adopt and transform ourselves with this technology. we must also learn to detach ourselves out of it. In doing so, we maintain to separate ourselves.
@dragon54u (31636)
• United States
9 Oct 10
I asked my son once why he and his friends texted so much and he said "it's easier than talking to each other". How sad! While they're available 24/7 they never truly connect to each other. It's frightening how people are isolating themselves, and how they are never alone. People don't have time to think nowadays, but maybe that's the whole point.
1 person likes this
@maezee (42003)
• United States
10 Oct 10
Haha, I turned 20 as of.. July, so I guess I'm not technically a *teenager* anymore. I do text a lot, but my main goal in life is to a.) not be annoying about it when I'm around co-workers or b.) do it as a way to slack off at work (who has the time for that, anyway) and c.) I try to RARELY use my phone when I'm hanging out with another friend. I can't stand when people, especially your friends or people you have to be social with (like co-workers at your job) are sitting there constantly texting and chatting on their phones. I feel like that's 110% disrespectful, and I USED to do this out of habit - just respond to a text as soon as it reached me - until I realized a couple of my friends were starting to get really annoyed by it (and I really didn't even know I was doing it!). But I feel like I've moved on and past that. I do have a lot of meaningful text convos with buddies of mine who I don't get to see very often, but at the same time, it's nothing life endangering or something I need to read and respond to as soon as I get it. I don't know if that makes any sense.
1 person likes this
@sender621 (14894)
• United States
9 Oct 10
You may not always think so but every person is important. you are important to yourself and to those who love you. When we don't feel important our self esteem and confidence is non-existent. This is not the way we should want to live our lives.
@megamatt (14292)
• United States
9 Oct 10
The world is in fact going to go on without me. I think that point is very clear. I think that many young people freak out about a lot of things, think that the world revolves around them. I do admit that when I was younger, in my teenage years, I have had moments like that. The fact is that if you are out of touch for a day, frankly there will be no one caring. Of course, I never really fell into that entire texting thing. It just felt like so much wasted time that it was not even funny. It was something that I was going to not really spend my time. However, I did have the urge to on the Internet during some dull moments. Still life does go on. We are all but insignificant little specks on the grand tapestry that is life.
1 person likes this
10 Oct 10
I can see myself as important as a part of other's life whenever i feel happy with them and make them happy when i'm around. This way i can survive through all the sufferings and challenges together with my loved ones. And how important am i is that how much they love me..
1 person likes this
@cankey62 (22)
• Malaysia
10 Oct 10
well,i don't know how important i am to someone else but i know i am important in my youngest daughter heart.i realize that when i'm not around just for s few hours or i have something to attend and when i come back,she will hug me and kiss me and ask me why i need such a long time to go.she said she miss me a lot.
1 person likes this
9 Oct 10
I'm 18. in high school and I used to text my friends a lot until recently. I have friends that I actually got to know them better by talking to them on the phone or by text messages. It sounds really pathetic. And it's not like we're not in the same town or in the same neighborhood but it's just .. addictive. And with the internet it's the same thing. I remember my mom asking me why am I am talking on the phone so much or why am I online all day long. I actually didn't know what to say to her. But a couple of months ago, she got herself an e-mail address and whenever she's home she's always online. And she said to me she can't believe she is online all day and that is very catchy. It's easier to stay in bed and talk to people than actually having to dress up and go out but after a while you start to realise how much you're missing. I don't wanna end up with 1 milion friends on facebook or with 2000 contacts in my telephone and no one to actually see, and hug and dance with. It is wrong and now I only text and go online to ask my friends out, go to parties, hang out. We only have one life and I don't wanna waste it by taking the easy way.
1 person likes this
@IvanDSM (40)
• Brazil
10 Oct 10
I never changed someone's life A LOT, but yes, i saved a lot of people! They were on the end of the line, and them i rescued them, but this doesn't counts. It's a minor importance!
1 person likes this
@Lore2009 (7378)
• United States
13 Oct 10
My phone is rarely on anymore!
@dorannmwin (36392)
• United States
14 Oct 10
You are absolutely right here. It is difficult when we have to do without the technology that we are accustomed to for a short period of time. However, I've had times where I've had no access to a telephone or even worse the computer. However, there does come the time that everything is powered up again and that is the time when life returns to normal. There are no permanent changes that occur in our lives because of the fact that we don't have access to our technology for a short period of time.