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Be Careful What You Text For

By Janet Langjahr

Today, everyone has a cell phone.

In which they can store the numbers of everyone who is anyone to them.

And, paradoxically, most communication with their cell phone doesn’t happen through talking on it.

Three times as often, it happens through text messaging.

Totally uninhibited text messaging.

Admissions.

Confessions.

Flirtations.

Threats.

Plots and plans.

Text trail …

E-v-i-d-e-n-c-e.

As though no one else could ever see them but the intended receiver.

As though they would vanish without a trace once read.

But not so.

They may not last forever like e-mail.

But they last long enough to be found when least expected – and they’ve more accessible to eavesdroppers.

And they last long enough to print or download.

And, through the legal process, text messages can be made to live on longer than they would otherwise.

Potentially causing a whole lot of grief to the sender or recipient, in family court and otherwise.

Be careful what you text for …

Read more in this New York Times article: Text Messages: Digital Lipstick on the Collar.

Full post as published by Florida Divorce - Child Custody - Domestic Abuse Law on December 09, 2009 (boomark / email).