Texting As technology advances, so does our phones and the ways we are able to use them. We have been given tiny buttons and touch screens. We have been given full keyboards and even speech recognition. Rather than making long phone calls, we can just send short messages. Though we have this option now, messaging still requires etiquette. We need to respect everyone, even by the way we text message them. There is a time and place for certain texting conversations. With our friends we tend to text loosely with grammar errors and abbreviations. Though when we text our parents or people with higher authority, we should respect them and be more professional. Texting gives us so many options, we can choose what to say and how to say it. Such as texting before you are dating, while you are dating, and what not to say while you are dating. When we first start talking to that person, we really try to be sincere, but not too much that it is found unattractive. This is more or less “Friend Zone Texting.” One can use their first name—no nicknames just yet. Only replying back maybe a few times a day, to understand if the other individual is willing to hold a conversation. Texting is kept short and to the point, but do not over abbreviate. Try to be flirty without using CIA code or being a teenager who just discovered urban slang. Try showing that one another are `great Day!” or “Hey! How is your day going?” let’s that person know they are important and that they are cared for. We must also remember while doing this is to stay semi-professional and at least seem like we have a proper vocabulary. It is alright once a connection is made to become coy with that person, so no one is friend zoned forever. After surviving and slipping through the friend zone cracks, then texting will slowly become more comfortable. This means the relationship will have moved onto the “finally we are dating” stage. The couple starts to text more often, getting more personal with each other. Texting allows a way to quickly understand how someone’s day went. People start texting about things each other have in common, and places each other have been. They start sending pictures throughout the day of places each other have been or things that they have seen. Expressing feelings and thoughts towards one another can help couples become more comfortable to do so in person. Flirting more will become acceptable. Finally, it may be alright to start using nicknames. Also abbreviations will become less coded and more understood—just make sure that other person understands first. Communication can be tricky, especially over texting conversations. We all hear words differently and may not understand the tone or