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It's pretty great. But the text also encourages the passive-aggressive noncontact tendencies in all of us: why talk or reprimand when words can take their place? Text messages are concise by design--the 256-character limit is both convenient and problematic.

I like to use text messaging in my creative writing course: it serves as an interesting parallel to traditional form poetry. What are sonnets and haikus if not a self-imposed restriction on language? Writing constraints force the writer to generate work in a way that doesn't come naturally. By restricting word choice, a writer has to be more aware of language then they are in the unrestricted, stream-of-consciousness form. Also, in the case of rhyming poetry, it usually imposes rhythm or repetition that's satisfying to the reader.

With texting, the constraint has inspired some interesting ways to get around the lack of space--it has increased the popularity of acronyms, the wtf/lol language helps to cram more meaning into a small space. Poetry, I believe, has similar aspirations: how can we capture the world in a single flash or image, a moment of intense reflection?

Text messaging is already finding its way into literature. Check out the popularity of the text-message novel. Texting may also be at least indirectly responsible for our increasing comfort with reading literary work on the screen as opposed to page: think of the rising respect for e-journals and the flash form; think of TriQuarterly, a literary institution now going electronic; think of Scarab, the new literary journal available on the iPhone.

So, as writers, what do we do with this?

We need to write (and edit) as if we were writing in a text: treat every word, every letter and symbol, as if it were valuable. Don't waste space with unnecessary asides. Be blunt. Be aggressive. Sarcasm won't translate to a reader without a winky face, so take it out. Remember that every form comes with reader expectations: discover them, use them, break them if necessary.

Write a poem or flash on your phone--embrace the restriction and see what happens.