Ok, I'll admit to being a bit old fashioned and not really excited or up to date on all the latest gadgets. I was under the impression that God gave us thumbs for hitchiking in from a en route airport when stopped by weather.
But I can see at least one critical need for texting possibility in an airliner; if one pilot goes back to the toilet and gets locked in, as happened recently. at least he can send a message up to the cockpit.
I do have a pilot friend who loves his gadgets. His family came up for a ski visit and in the evening he sat on one end of the couch and his teenage daughter sat on the other end while they sent texts to each other.