Mini rant on text messaging

I cannot believe how much more I am noticing how the media is acknowledging technology! Once again I was reading the latest Carillon newspaper as I noticed there was an article called "Texting up a storm". They have contests on who is the fastest texter on a cellphone and you win some really great prizes. What is this encouraging us? One aspect to look at is it is teaching us hand - eye coordination, but other than that is it meaningful??? What are your opinions?