Wow... so many responses. I'll try clarify as much as I can.
If everybody has Smart phones of some sort, it would be no less work for them to send you an email than it would be to send you a text.
Unless they're sending group texts, ie, one message to multiple numbers at the same time, in which case it would be twice as much work to then send an email aswell.
These are never group texts. Always individual messages to me, personally. So, it wouldn't actually be much more work to contact me by some other means.
Several people have latched on to the idea that these are group things. They aren't. Funnily enough, the group things always happen by email. These are individual things. People texting me that they want to hang out tonight or tomorrow night. Then, if I don't get the message, I have missed something I would have had the time or inclination to do.
I guess the confusion probably came in because I said "my friends" in relation to get togethers, but that was because it was two separate friends wanting to hang out two separate times.
Example:
I heard my phone beep late Sunday night. I was already in bed and my phone was downstairs charging. I figured I'd get to it in the morning. When I finally remembered to get to my phone (around 9:30am), I discovered that it was a friend wanting to get together at 10:00am. She didn't call me. She just presumed I wasn't interested. But I totally was. And if she'd sent me an email, I would have gotten it as soon as I'd gotten up.
The message I wrote back was along the lines of "Sorry, I only just got your message. I rarely check my phone when I'm home. I'd love to get together."
What is really driving me nuts is that my phone isn't a smartphone like all theirs are. I have no intention of getting a smartphone. Period. I don't need it.
My cellphone is to be able to reach me in case of emergency and last minute plan changes when I am out, and for me to have in case of emergency when I am out. The only reason people have my cell # is in case of emergency. But they feel that because I have a cellphone I should use it. It's more convenient for them.
The event I completely missed was another casual get together. Because a friend texted me and I didn't even hear my phone beep. I got the message two days later. In that case, a phone call would have been really nice. She wanted to get together with me. And I have previously told her that my phone is usually off when I'm home, so I don't text.
She will insist on texting back and forth with me, even though I've told her that I don't like texting because it's expensive. Her solution was to "just get a plan". But a plan costs more money. I'm not going to spend $40/month just to text when I'm currently spending only <$10/month for a basic emergency-use no-frills phone.
This particular friend will send me a message. If I get the message, I will respond quickly because it is more convenient for her. Then she'll text back with a question. If I then tell her that I don't like texting, she'll point out that I just sent her a text. The problem is, her cell phone is a long distance number, even though she lives locally, so I can't even call her on her cell. I *have* to text her. But it's not long distance for her to call me. But she doesn't. She only texts. And refuses to switch her number to a local one because the long distance thing doesn't affect her.
A few weeks ago, someone sent me a picture message. I got a message something along the lines of "xxx-xxx-xxxx has sent you an undeliverable message. To retrieve this message, please visit www..." I had to log on and give a code and go through a whole rigmarole to retrieve the message. I had to ask them not to do that again.
What if the OP didn't text because of financial reasons? Would that make a difference? 
It actually
is because of financial reasons. I simply cannot afford a more expensive phone with more bells and whistles. And I have no need of it.
I used to have a fancy phone. I got rid of it because I have no need of it as a stay at home parent. Plus, it's hard to justify a fancy phone when you're home 90% of the time with access to a landline and email.
I am struck by one thing in all this, OP. You'd like your friends to change the way they communicate with you, which means each of them would be actively doing *something* to fix this situation. But the situation could easily be fixed by YOU doing one simple little thing each day.
Instead of asking all your friends to do something, all you have to do is just look at your phone once a day. Just once a day! Problem solved.
Bingo/Disco/POD/Win!
Before you go all bingo-discoey, please realize - I check my phone most days. But even then, I still end up missing or almost missing stuff. Like the aforementioned text that was sent at night (actually, the situation that prompted this whole post) that I didn't get until the morning, and within 30 minutes of the suggested get together time. We ended up hanging out, but almost didn't because it was asked by text instead of email. And because it was sent from a smartphone, she could have messaged me by facebook or email instead and I would have gotten the message way sooner.
There's the added difficulty that if a friend wants to get together last minute and doesn't want to or can't come to me and I don't have sufficient notice, I can't because we're also a single car family and I may not have made arrangements to have the car.
I also try my hardest to remember to put my phone somewhere that I'll hear it beep. But I often forget because it's not a big part of my life. If I leave it charging in the kitchen, I'll hear it. If it's been left in the diaper bag so I don't forget to take it with me the next time I go out, I won't hear it.
So many people are saying I'm wrong. I guess I will take that to heart. What I really wanted to know (and which no one has answered for me), though, was is there a more clear way that I can say "Texting is the worst way to reach me."
