aNewDomain — There is an expectation in today’s fast-paced, modern world to be available all the time. Really, we must be available 24/7, and responding to text messages is on the top of that list. It’s so bad that we’re all familiar with the scenario where a loved one misses a few texts, and it raises alarm bells in the relationship. It doesn’t have to be like that, which is why FWEXT was created.
Did You Get My Text? Really, Did You?
Culture has made it seem like forgetting to respond to a text message is basically an insult. Follow-up texts will surely occur, and might be filled with humor, anger, guilt, sarcasm and, in some cases, a crazy break-up.
Buzzfeed’s article “17 Perfect Responses for When Someone Doesn’t Text Back” has a couple perfect examples, like “I love that super cute thing you do where you don’t text me for hours. Gah. Adorable” or “Noah wrote Allie 365 letters, so I think you can text me back.” (Note that Buzzfeed encourages us to be upset if we don’t get texted back.)
The Bro Council — a website for “respectable men” — claims that in the rules of texting you should always respond. Unless, of course, you don’t want to be friends with that person. If you don’t respond they’ll probably assume the worst. They might find this article, “Ten Reasons People Don’t Respond to Your Texts,” and surmise that you don’t like them, and you plan to inflict revenge upon them with incredibly slow text responses and that, in the end, you must assume you’re boring.
FWEXT and Automatic Texting
Now, the reality of getting back to every text on time — and therefore saving your relationships — is not always easy. FWEXT is a free app, available for Android on Google Play, that uses motion-based, automatic texting to respond for you. You can preprogram up to three customized text messages, and then send them by shaking your phone in a certain way. Saying, “I’m busy, can’t talk, I’ll respond later” has never been easier.
FWEXT takes the customization further with specific responses for specific people, like a girlfriend, boyfriend or mother who needs the extra attention. If you could preprogram a text like “Hi honey, can’t talk right now, busy, but I love you!” your text-based mishaps might disappear. And that text can be sent with a simple shake of your phone. There are three specific movement-based gestures that FWEXT recognizes: back-and-forth, up-and-down and left-to-right.
The Smart Hoodie does something very similar to FWEXT — it sends texts by putting up your hood or rolling up a sleeve. It’s not quite ready for market yet, but FWEXT is. Soon we might have a handful of gear that can help us respond to the pressures of modern life.
FWEXT is a fairly simple answer to a larger issue. Perhaps the true solution does not live in a more convenient way to respond, but in the false expectation that we should receive a response to every electronic message we send. Until that occurs, FWEXT may be the very thing that helps you smooth things over with your loved one, or avoid resentment, sarcasm and hurt feelings.
For aNewDomain, I’m Chandler Harris.
First image: Texting” by Melina Sampaio Manfrinatti via Flickr
Second image: Texting in the Rain” by Garry Knight via Flickr
