I have just received a text from the NFU telling me about a survey they are doing. British Sugar use texts quite a lot too. I am not sure that I like being contacted in this way by a large organisation. In fact I don't like it at all. I hate text messages - they are for youths.
I know that at 33 I am still considered a youth by the majority of the farming community but I am not a youth, 33 is comfortably into adulthood. In some African countries I would be an elder of the tribe (the authority figure - not the tree).
I welcome the attempts of the union to embrace modern technology but this is a step too far. I hate the whole text culture and the new lexicon of slang that goes with it. Is Peter Kendall employing a teenager in a hoodie to send out these messages? Will the next initiative be to spray paint information onto our farm buildings with aerosol cans.
I even find mobile telephones to be overused, intrusive and annoying. I know that one of you imaginary readers is going to write that they are valuable if you get trapped in a piece of machinery and you are on your own in the middle of a field. I suppose you have a point. You can even catch up on the NFU's latest news while you wait for the air ambulance.
Welcome to the blogging fold (despite the fact that you now appear on the top of FW's blog index pushing Food For Thought down the page!)
I'm 32 and regularly rant about young people - so I guess that rules me out of the 'youth' market too. The thing that really winds me up is young people's obsession with being "upfront and honest" which people use as an excuse to make the most brutal of comments. When did tact and respect go out of fashion?
Nothing to do with farming, but I feel lighter for having vented a little!