Tuesday, September 20, 2011
Face to face interaction is gone, and voice communication is quickly following it.
The results of a recent study by the Pew Research Center were quite surprising. The study found that 31% of cell phone users prefer to be contacted via text message rather than by a phone call. I take that back, I don't find the results all that surprising, I find them disturbing. I find them disturbing because I worry that society is becoming less socially interactive as each year passes, and this study reinforces this concern. As people opt to send a text message instead of directly interacting with others, they lose opportunities for real social interaction. In the place pf interesting voice communication is a stale and dull mode of communication we call "texting." I truly hope the statistics on text messaging usage found in the study results are an eye opener for many of my readers. It is my hope that we can urge others to talk directly to others whenever possible as opposed to texting. It is much more rewarding.
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Amen, I feel like technology is digressing not progressing. We invented the telegraph to send text messages. That ended when we found a better, more advanced technology that would allow speech communication. Imagine, live voice communication over a telephone! If you ask me, I prefer a call over a text any day.
ReplyDeleteIf I had read your post 6 years ago, I would have agreed whole-heatedly; now, however, while I do see where your coming from, I feel I should point out that this is much more than a matter of "I don't like talking to people 'face to face' or 'voice to voice' so I'll text instead."
ReplyDeleteWhen I need to contact someone, I often text because it is more convenient. I can text without disturbing those around me (I'll mention that I habitually talk loud on the phone), and I know it won't disrupt whatever they're doing.
If you call, you run the risk that they're busy, and then you have to leave a message. They can only check the message when they're done with whatever they're doing, and then they have to take the time to call the voice mailbox and sort through the messages there.
If you text, you know that they are going to see your message asap.
So, is the fact that a lot of people prefer texting over a call a cause for concern? It could be. I don't think the form of communication matters so much as the relationships behind the communication. If the world is digressing to a point where we want to live in our own little world and only contact others out of necessity and that is why we choose to text, then we have need for concern.
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ReplyDeletePersonally, most of my text messages are not replacing phone calls. If I didn't have text messaging, I wouldn't communicate as much as I do. For example, after a date, I will often text my date thanking her for the date. If I didn't have text messaging I would not call her right after I dropped her off to thank her for the date. The text message in this situation does not steal the communication from the phone call, it adds communication that would not exist if a phone call was the only option.
ReplyDeleteAlso, I don't feel that telephones replaced telegraphs as much as the postal service replaced telegraphs which have now been replaced by email. To say that email is digressing from using telephones is wrong. They each solve different issues. I think that some people use email when a phone call would be better, but that is a reflection of the person, not email. The world would definitely not be as efficient if telephones were our only means of communication.
Texting is appropriate in the right setting. I am very glad when I am in the middle of something important and someone knows to text me rather than call.
ReplyDeleteI think the problem comes when someone is in a widely social setting and prefers to text their contacts in a corner rather than participate with the group.