Weekend Wars: Text vs. Talk
Things have gotten very complicated over the past ten or fifteen years with regards to communication. It's pretty easy for many of you guys to shrug your shoulders and wonder what the confusion/populism/preaching and rhetoric are about. Can't say that I blame you.
The reality for the other ~95% of the planet is that we are at one of those watershed moments in evolution where things are changing so rapidly that many cannot adapt. What makes this particular moment both so interesting and so troubling is that technological advancement has never brought such profound interpersonal disconnect.
My generation grew up on movies, books and plays which warned us of the dastardly doings of a technologically advanced, but morally defunct society. We laughed at the warnings, pumped our walkman headphones, flooded answering machines and banked baller dollars off the teletext. Just to give a tepid illustration...I was swimming in attention for having a connected beeper not that long ago. It makes me think how far we've come in such a short while. How much we have advanced, while devolving at an even faster rate.
I'll ask you guys to consider something today which is likely intrinsically incomprehensible for many of you. The difference between something which only your generation has known and something which was the penultimate communicational modus operandi...for centuries. This something known as face-to-face contact is quickly becoming the fossil in the fuel powering modern communication.
Texting vs. Talking
I recently broke up with a younger chick I was seeing for a hot minute. Outside of the time we shared in the physical realm... we never...EVER... spoke. All of our congress facilitated via instant message, text or the occasional attachment. To me it was a surreal experience, something I never thought plausible in my youth...for the simple fact, that it physically wasn't. For the first time I left a situation which happened and lasted, without having the echoes of verbal evidence which had previously marked such encounters.
In sitting back and reading your comments, with more attention to detail than when I post my own...this is a topic that has begun to intrigue me more than a little. I wonder as I write about this subject...is it even something that makes sense to generations of iPhoners and Facebookers?
What is the world of business to look like in a landscape where a handshake and eye contact are no longer preferable...dare I say, possible? How do you younger gents and gals look at this conundrum? Is it even a matter of thought or confusion to you?
Is there a sense of unease for you, as there is for me...all the while talking to people you can't actually see? Do you see the potential for mass misunderstanding, confusion and misuse of information in relationships which are everything but tangibly physical and transparent? Is texting adding to our rapid intellectual and communicative decay or is it just the new time of day?
Or are we dinosaurs a little too attached to our cavemen halls, outhouse stalls and stick figured walls? What is the future of talking...are voices even a factor?
Dude, grow up (or is it the other way round?). It's nothing but snail mail, just without the snail and in shorter snippets.
My friend's little brother is 13, his phone plan is text only and he doesn't even care that he can't call people.
For a long while the only time I would text would be when I was responding to someone, now its slowly becoming my method of choice... which I find annoying.
I think soon that the world is going to revolve around digital face to face, i.e. video confrence. Soon its travel is going to be a thing of the past. Im not saying that travel wont happen but the majority of small things that need to be ironed out that used to require travel will be done digitally.
I text a lot, but I use it generally under a few circumstances: - I can't call the person - I don't want to bother the person and would rather leave something they can read at their own convenience - It's a simple question/statement that doesn't warrant vocal communication
Other than that, a phone call trumps all, it removes the opportunity for miscommunication.
I'm fine with all the new stuff, but much like MMMs experience with the younger chick, I see the upcoming generation as more 'connected' amongst themselves, but seriously unable to connect with the people who are 1. In charge / have experience 2. able to actually have a conversation 3. not on their network / too different to show up on their radar
Conversation is completely lost on the current generation, and they are not only disconnected, but are beginning to show that they are unable to focus, and therefore ineffective in as many ways as they are 'hypereffective'. I actually dumped a girl once because if she wasn't going to hang out in person or CONVERSE I didn't see it as a relationship anymore, lost respect for her, and then used her as a booty call once I realized that she was somehow developementally stunted.....she did this to herself by NOT PICKING UP THE PHONE, agreeing to a time and, hmmmm, hanging out in person. Great sex though, I probably should have strung her along or something.....shitty, but what the fuck were my options???
Part of this is evolution, part of this is doing the same old thing through a new medium, and part of this is kids dicking around with new toys. Video conferencing will expand how we communicate, absolutely true, but there are coworkers that I can't stand talking to: why the fuck do I have to look at their sorry ass as well? Sometimes letting the phone go to message is a good thing. On the other hand, a financial advisor will be damned, for example, if he doesn't drive out and fucking sit down and talk with me in person for fifteen minutes: no face time, no deal, PERIOD: I don't CARE what your record is, I need to FEEL like I can trust you. While people are lining up to but their kindles and download the news, I buy books and read a newsPAPER for a variety of reasons, in addition to blogging my ass off and spending all day in front of a computer.
It's case by case, but the bottom line is that you have to keep up with new technology, retain the wise parts of older ways, and take it as it comes.
Think through it though. Technology is rapidly changing and constantly evolving. The sort of inter-connectedness we think we have today is nothing like it will be as we progress through the next couple of decades. Look at Apps like Color and Yobongo, which allow you to communicate in real time with people around you. This is only the beginning. Eventually we will immerse ourselves in technology to the point that we are actually wired into the system. So right now, it seems that we all favor text-based communication, but the reality is that its a natural starting place before evolving into more technologically advanced communication methods, which will allow us to speak and have a face-to-face conversation, even if we aren't physically face-to-face with the person with whom we are communicating.
These technologies exist and grow for a reason. When phones came out, they replaced face-to-face conversations for many but not all everyday interaction. Then emails replaced phone calls as a primary means of communication before texting has now come to replace that. Text messaging now reigns supreme, especially among us younger monkeys, until its time has come and it is replaced by an all-servicing Facebook portal or some other disruptive innovation in communicating.
The fact of the matter is that people text because it is easier, more efficient, and well-suited for multitasking (one of our generation's favorite past times). I understand the impersonal nature of text messages, but I think it's the responsibility of the individual to know when to text and when to talk.
I'm currently studying abroad and decided to experiment by not buying a cell phone when I got to europe. I've lived the past 2 1/2 months without a phone and the biggest inconvenience... not having an alarm clock.
There were only a few times when I actually needed a phone (picking up a friend from the airport, meeting up with someone in a city I had travelled to, etc).
When I get back to the States, it's back to my Iphone, but for now I'm enjoying the spontaneity that accompanies life without the ability to text.
^I did the same thing when I studied abroad in Prague--didn't miss it nearly as much as you might think.
I think the negativity associated with texting is somewhat overblown; like all technology, you're supposed to use IT, not the other way around. However, because it's so fast, I think it's affecting my generation's ability to focus and concentrate. It's hard to read huge passages in one sitting now, and trying to get a room full of college kids to pay attention is next to impossible.
I went to Prague for a few days a couple weeks ago and loved it. Caught the local hockey team HC Sparta at the Tesla Arena and went to this jazz place Agharta. Awesome trip.
I much prefer to text/email/im someone than speak over the phone. If I want to have a big conversation with someone I much prefer to meet in person if possible. I'll phone if I need to find something out quickly but I just find online messaging a person easier, just pop on facebook and see if they are online.
texting is for girls or communicating with girls.
I am irritated by my own texting. I feel like a kid when I do it.
It is intemporal, so it is less intrusive for them and me. There is no exchanging of pleasantries or awkwardly trying to hang up.
However, it removes the human element. I can be texting for 10 minutes and feel like I haven't spoken with anybody. It's like punching queries into Google. It can almost be isolating.
Lol. So dramatic.
Moved to a new city recently where my "it's complicated" is living. I'm 26, she's 18. I've been using cell phones since 1999 and I've been texting since...probably about 2002. But it's only in the last 3 years or so text messaging has blown up. I had to literally text this girl asking her to pick up her phone when I called in 24 hours. Her primary way of communicating with me is through text messaging. It's super annoying. Having been born in 1985, I have just the perfect mix of face-to-face interaction, Facebook, texting, and calling down. But it seems people who are 5 years older and younger have been incapable of finding the right mix for communication. This girl, born in 1993, just annoys me with her communication style. I can't determine where I stand with her because she's replaced phone calls as her method of non-personal contact and in some ways has used it to replace actual personal contact. On an annualized basis, I've seen less of her now in the last month since I've lived 20 minutes away from her than I saw of her when I lived 1,000 miles away.
In sum, I definitely see texting as a handicap to personal communications when a person (or persons) involved in a personal relationship fail to find the right balance.
I just wan to say that im 18 and I personally feel that people my age are perfectly fine with carrying on a conversation. Yes a lot of people my age text but only really when we feel like we are board and not doing anything. It was only a few years ago that I can remember that everyone would Instant Message not text so I think that texting is just another fad that will go away just like IM, phone calls, and even eventually Facebook.
Also I know people that like to just sit on the computer all weekend and do nothing but you should know that those kids are considered weird, boring, and get no pussy. Plenty of people my age would still much rather go out on a saturday and meet up face to face than sit at home on Facebook.
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