Do you find it more convenient to read email/texts as opposed to talking on the phone? If so then a service you may be interested in is PhoneTag.

Here is how the process works:

1. Someone calls and gets your voice mail.
2. They hear your greeting followed by a voice which says something like “please speak clearly so your message can be converted to text”.
3. A message is left.
4. The message is converted to text and then emailed/texted to you.

This service works with just about any service provider and there is no software required. You can also give the service a try for free (for one week) to see if you like it.

While this might not be for everyone, I am sure some of you may find it useful.

Note: This is not a paid endorsement. A couple of people I work with use it and love it, so I though I would share.

Ordinarily I am not for a national US-wide ban of anything, as I do believe that each individual state should make their own laws concerning how they handle things.

But not on this issue.

I’m going to say this flat out: If you text while you drive, you’re an idiot. It is one of the dumbest things you could possibly do behind the wheel of a car.

If you’re caught doing it, my solution would be simple. The officer takes your wireless device, puts it on the ground, smashes it with a crowbar, fines you $500 for being stupid, then tells you to have a nice day and drive safe. And yes, you deserve to have that happen to you if you text while you drive. Better to have your phone smashed and your wallet hurt than kill someone else because while texting you ran a red light and t-boned another car.

If you can believe it, the major wireless carriers more or less oppose a ban of this type. They believe better driver education will solve this problem. Wrong, wrong and wrong again. There is no amount of education that will curb this issue whatsoever. What people will listen to more than anything else are stiff fines.

There is absolutely nobody that could ever convince me that there is ever a "safe" time to text while driving. It should be illegal to do anywhere in the US, period.

Do you see texting while driving where you live?

Don’t you get a really nervous feeling whenever you see anyone doing it, knowing how dumb it is?

What’s your state law(s) concerning wireless device use in a motor vehicle?

Do you think what’s on the books now is fair or not? Does your state even have laws concerning wireless phones in motor vehicles at all?

Some choose to text on a wireless phone for fiscal reasons. It used to be that texting cost more than speaking, but these days it’s the other way around (especially with prepaid wireless phones).

Some choose to text because it’s faster. If you receive a text message asking, “Meet up for coffee at noon at D.D.?”, it is quicker to reply with a “yes” than it is to call, wait for the ring and actually say yes.

And obviously there are those who like to text because for whatever reason they fear speaking on the phone. When “hiding” behind text people feel more confident for whatever reason.

The Big Question: If there was a wireless device you could buy that was text-only, had a real miniature QWERTY keypad on it (meaning not a number pad), and cost $15 a month for unlimited domestic and international texting, would you buy it?

There’s a lot of you out there that would say yes to that. Are you one of them? If so, why? Or if not, why?