My son texted me the other day.

“Mom. When u comin home?”

I texted back.

“After I stop at Harris Teeter.”

He responded.

“K.”

It struck me, perhaps oddly since I was parking the car at the time, that limiting oneself to the most important information isn’t always bad.

I’ve often heard that we live in a microwave society — that people need everything fast or faster. That even cooking in a microwave has gotten too slow.

As we begin to use websites like Twitter and Facebook, LinkedIn and others, the quick updates tend to get shorter and shorter. With Twitter, the 140 characters that are allowed actually make you (ok, maybe its just me) think through what I want to write and choose my words carefully.

In less space, I can say more. With less words, I can get a bigger message across.

Some argue that this is exactly what we don’t need. That texting, email, Twitter, etc. have ruined our ability to communicate. I agree to some extent, but I also think that their use has maximized our time and energies, allows us to communicate a message quickly and forces us to think before we speak.

Though I’m sure there are some who put their foot into their mouth just as quickly as if they were speaking. 😉