Text Messages: For Haiti, For Food Stamps, For Your Lunch

1 year ago

0 Comments Say Something »

Text Size

Contributor

Last week, things were quiet at the Hot Chocolate for Haiti table.

The fundraising effort was set up near the entrance of Boston University's George Sherman Union, a hub for quelling caffeine addictions and between-class munchies. Plenty of students rushed by, but they didn't take the bait to make a donation for Haiti in exchange for the goods. Two girls sat behind the table, standing guard over a shoebox with a few crumpled bills thrown in. Both were playing on their phones.

It would be no surprise if these girls, like millions of others, had opted to donate to the Haiti relief effort via text message. Some $30 million-plus has been raised from text message donations since the quake hit in early January. With the IRS allowing Haiti deductions to be factored into 2009 tax filings, and the ability to donate without needing to get up off the couch -- or even put on pants for that matter -- techno-philanthropy has never been so appealing.

Frankly, it's amazing what we can now accomplish with just a few swift thumb movements.

Even the United Nations has hopped on the humanitarian text message bandwagon. Instead of making food drops or distributing traditional food stamps, the international peacekeeping and human rights organization will embark on a pilot project of sending $22 food vouchers to 1,000 Iraqi refugee families every two months via SMS. (Fun fact: Third World refugees are increasingly just as tied to their cell phones as the rest of us.)

It's not all kind-heartedness and food vouchers when we set our thumbs flying. I admit: I'm the ultimate text message brat. I convinced my dad (remember him?) to first put our family on an unlimited text messaging plan, then lured him into the land of BlackBerrys and BlackBerry Messenger. Now he can never escape me. I've lost count of the number of times he's gotten the "daaaaaaddyyyyyyy" text toward the end of the month, when the well is running dry.

Just like I can somehow text and a little padding appears in my checking account, thousands of others send a simple text and food appears on their doorstep. Subway restaurants in southern California, for example, offer ordering via text message, going where Papa John's, Pizza Hut and good ol' Mickey D's have all gone before. Panera Bread offers discounts for those who text in a sneaky promotional code and flash their screen to a cashier.

My school, Boston University, has fully embraced text messaging. The administration has implemented BU Alert, a warning system that texts students, in addition to leaving a voice mail and sending an email in case of an emergency or other urgent message. (Despite our sartorial reputation, text alerts of blowout sales at the UGG Australia store or Juicy Couture outlet are not yet implemented.) That's not the only text-centric system the administration saw fit to provide us with: students can text message orders in to the Late Nite Café, a purveyor of many fried and fatty foods that sets up nightly in the campus' dining halls. The real kicker is that delivery is only offered within dorm buildings, meaning the food's just an elevator ride away from the comfort of your uniform double dorm room to begin with.

Since SMS messaging was born, it seems like there have been psychic services, horoscope services, joke services, erotic messaging services -- you name it -- all for just 99 cents a pop. Now we can feed ourselves, educate ourselves and even do good, all through a device that fits in the palm of our hands. In a world where we increasingly talk with our thumbs instead of our mouths, what's next? Crammers, what do you use text messaging for? What do you wish your texts could do? Is all this absurd?

Filed Under: The Cram, Culture, Haiti

Tagged: boston university, BostonUniversity, fast food, FastFood, food, haiti relief, HaitiRelief, philanthropy, technology, texting

Our New Approach to Comments

In an effort to encourage the same level of civil dialogue among Politics Daily’s readers that we expect of our writers – a “civilogue,” to use the term coined by PD’s Jeffrey Weiss – we are requiring commenters to use their AOL or AIM screen names to submit a comment, and we are reading all comments before publishing them. Personal attacks (on writers, other readers, Nancy Pelosi, George W. Bush, or anyone at all) and comments that are not productive additions to the conversation will not be published, period, to make room for a discussion among those with ideas to kick around. Please read our Help and Feedback section for more info.