Why texting is good for your brain

The digital age will improve the way you think and write. And you can thank Friedhelm Hiilebrand.

I thought of Friedhelm this morning. I wanted to send an email to an old friend to congratulate her on her new job, but I only had her email from her old job. So I found her on Linked In, added her to my network, and attached a note, which was rejected because it was too long. 300 character limit.

Which is generous compared to the 160 characters you get for a text, and the 140 you get for Twitter.

So I revised my note to her, chopping and slicing words and phrases.

And it wasn’t just shorter, it was better. Better use of words and better use of her time. Tighter, smarter, more to the point.

So thank you, Friedhelm Hillebrand and your German friends, who created the universal texting length and whether meaning to or not, forced us to write in a more compact form.

Yes, I know our children speak in a consonant-less language and abbreviate everything, but it’s nothing the US military hasn’t been doing in spectacular fashion for decades, and they’ve survived pretty well.

Amidst the evils of rampant spellcheckmania and media multitasking, I’d argue that the digital age is forcing us to think and package our ideas more concisely, and write with intelligent restraint.

If only there was a character limit to powerpoint presentations.