How To Do Everything

You may be feeling proud of yourself because you’re keeping up with the times by learning to text message.  You receive a message, you hit reply, and 5 minutes later you finally send off your reply.  Then before you know it, you’ve received an entire paragraph back from the other person.  Their response was so quick, it has left you wondering how they did it.  Practice, practice, practice!  This along with a few key tricks will allow you to learn to text faster.

1. Get To Know Your Phone:  The numbers 2-9 are associated with either 3 or 4 letter in alphabetic order.  Number 1 is reserved for punctuation and symbols.  Then number 0, *, and # also have other functions like; capitalization, forward to the next letter, and more symbols.

2. Learn to Use Predictive Text (T9, iTap, or Word): Turn on predictive text by going to the messaging settings menu on your phone.  Look for “input method” or “default edit mode” then choose “predictive”.  This may require a bit of getting used to if you’ve never used predictive text.  When using predictive text, you simply press the number on the keypad once for the letter you want, then the phone will guess what word you want and will fill it in.

•  For example: if you wanted to type “wikihow” press 9-4-5-4-4-6-9.  If your phone has choosen an incorrect word, just pick the correct one.  On some phones, they will give you a menu that will allow you to scroll down and select the correct word, and on some you can press the * key until you find the correct word.
• iTap: sometimes you phone will guess the word before you finish typing it.  If your phone has iTap, you can type 3 characters and then choose from the words available.  After you choose your word, the phone will put it in and then give you a space after the word so you can continue typing.
• When using predictive text, be sure to proofread your message before you send it.  Sometimes the phone will guess words incorrectly and you may end up sending a message that makes no sense, or may be inappropriate.

3. Know when to use the forward key:  If your phone doesn’t come equiped with predictive texting you will have to press a button to type the first letter a number represents, 2x for the second letter, and 3x for the third, maybe once more for a 4th letter in the case of s and z, and then again for a number.  Just be careful and make sure what you are trying to insert actually shows up.  One solution is to press the forward key in between letters, it usually looks like this “(|_|),” a square U.  The only other time you need to press the forward key is inbetween words to create a space between them.

4. Learn Texting Language:  This is basically an electronic version of shorthand.  You do not need to memorize hundreds of words, just the ones you use frequently.

• Too or to = 2
• For = 4
• You = u
• Your/You’re = ur
• Are = r
• Be = b
• Be right back = brb
• Talk to you later = ttyl
• Peace = pc/pce
• Nothing much =nm
• Just chillin = jc
• Never Mind = nvm
• Right = ryt
• Probably = prbly
• Ta ta for now = ttfn
• Back to homework = bthw
• What =wat
• Just wondering = jw

4. Make Templates for Common Phrases: Some phones come preloaded with texting templates that are supposed to be the most commonly used messages.  If these aren’t right for you, you can often create your own.  Some of the most common phrases, especially those that come preloaded are:

• What are you up to?
• Just checking in.
• Where are you?
•  I’ll be right there.
• I’ll be home soon.
• Running late.
• Let’s catch up soon.
• Hey, what’s up?

These steps should get you typing in the right direction and as fast as everyone else, if not faster!

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