The cell phone is undoubtedly cemented into today's society- especially America's. I hate to admit it, but my cell phone will be within a 10 ft. radius of me 99% of the time. I see how this behavior is pathetic, but what cell phones have now allowed us to do is what really scares me.
Believe it or not, telephones were not always around (gasp!). Yes, people either had to speak face to face or send a letter, and God only knows how long that took. Once the telephone was invented, people could communicate across town with out ever leaving their home, but the ability to see that person's face was taken away.
Cell phones took it one step further when the age of texting started to irrupt. Texting allowed people to send quick messages without having to place a call, but it then took away the ability to hear the other person's tone of voice. This is where I see the problem.
A large percent of my generation now feels that the ability to see or hear someone does not seem relevant. You're still talking to them right? Is there a difference?- The answer is yes. I don't want to sound dramatic, but text messaging is desensitizing humans. People today (mostly young people), now hold regular conversations via text messaging. I am most definitely guilty of this, but I've started to recognize the side effects it has on me.
Allow me to elaborate.
The Homecoming dance is quickly approaching at my high school, and a lot of people turn to texting when searching for a date. After telling my parents this fact, they promptly reminded me: "In my day, you couldn't ask a girl to homecoming by sending a heartless text message! You had to ask her to her face, and take it like a man!". As much as I hate to admit it, they are right. I personally know people that not only have gotten asked to homecoming, but also gotten dumped via text. The dump-er didn't want to hear her crying or see her in pain, so he texted her. I also have a friend that refuses to call the boy she likes over the phone because she feels, and I quote: "That would be so awkward...."See my point yet? People are scared to talk to one another. And by "talk", I mean actually talk.
I wish I could call everyone that sees this blog post so you could all hear the voice that I write this in, but... wouldn't that be awkward?
I agree that text messaging is often used to avoid uncomfortable situations, and I think this is partially because of the protection it offers from accidentally betraying your true feelings. When you talk to someone face to face or even over the phone your tone of voice and body language convey more information than your words (I've heard varying statistics, from 60% up to 93%), and much of your body language is hard to control or prevent, especially when you're caught by surprise. This makes texting an attractive option for talking about awkward or upsetting things in which people may want to conceal their true feelings. Texts can also be edited and censored more easily than speech.
ReplyDeleteI don't know whether this is good or bad. On one hand, the distance and pause between messages may increase self-censoring of the rash insults that often come with arguments that people later regret, but having entire conversations without really knowing how the other person feels definitely limits true communication.
I completely agree with Hayley and the writer of this post. But i kinda like being able to carefully craft a response to the awkward questions. Also, texting allows the conversation to be in private, without others overhearing. That's nice as well, especially when talking about uncomfortable topics. My issue is that without body language or a voice, I can't always tell if a certain sentence is supposed to be sarcastic or encouraging. This frustrates me. Sometimes I wish texting was never invented so that communication would be faster (a texting conversation that takes hours could take only minutes on the phone) and more sincere.
ReplyDeleteAlthough I feel that it is convenient to be able to craft a a text or Facebook message just the way you like it to avoid and awkward moment, I feel that people should not be quite so dependent on this luxury. Sure, everyone texts. It's really quick, easy, and non-personal (which is good sometimes). But when messaging like this creeps its way into things that deserve a more sincere method of communication, it is really bad in my opinion.
ReplyDeleteThere are many times where a situation calls for an in-person conversation or maybe even a letter. I just saw on the Sunday Morning Show (http://www.cbsnews.com/video/watch/?id=7274694n&tag=mncol;lst;2) that some people feel, despite how bad your handwriting is, that it really feels good to get a letter. I agree because a letter or actual conversation can do what no "idk" or "lol" can: it can show true emotion and sincerity when it matters, something we have drifted from in our progressive search for new technology.