The text menace

Posted by Michael on March 7, 2009, 4:25pm, 248 views

Telegraph writer Judith Woods has a charming column published in The Age today on her effort to give up texting.

She doesn’t say if it’s related, but apparently Italian bishops have called on people to give up SMS for Lent “as a way of detoxing their souls”.

Woods says that she is phoning people, instead of texting them, and most don’t like it. Some reported reactions:

“Is your phone broken?”

“You could have just texted me, you know.”

“Have you got post-natal depression?”

“Sorry, I have to go. You’re being weird. This isn’t a good time. Text me.”

Text messaging has to be the most antisocial means of communication. It’s one on one, but lacks any intimacy.

It’s intrusive in that it’s visible to others who might be wishing to actually speak with the text addict.

Woods quotes psychology author Laura James, who says it’s all about control.

“When you phone someone up, or talk to them in person, they can’t control when or where the conversation is happening, or what’s being discussed, and we’ve all grown used to having that control. The upshot is that we’re losing the ability to make time for one another.”

These articles might be of interest:

Comments

2 Responses to “The text menace”

  1. Bill S. on March 31st, 2009 9:15am

    Texting.

    Hi

    At best I can only claim a modest education, but in the course of my work I meet many University students. I openly state that I do NOT communicate by text message. From the little ‘text’ that I have seen I decided that it did not suit my needs and so I abandoned any thought of using it. I do not send them and I merely delete those that I receive. I encourage email communication in my work for many reasons. It is more ‘considered’ and one can check back if, for example, I need to be sure what was asked or what I said in a response. I can also manage my time better. I don’t have to listen to someone telling me about the weather in downtown Widgerybool when I am bursting to go to the loo.
    I have a small circle of friends around the world and it is great to hear from them when they and I have the time to write or send each other photographs etc. Email is a great way to do that and of course I love to hear their voices on the phone. Since I chose not to use text messaging I won’t comment on it further, but I see some appalling writing in emails from people who have not long finished education to a High School level and, I might add, not just the odd one or two. The writers often fail miserably to convey a message or ask questions: have no concept of punctuation or any form of phrasing, misspell almost every word and often forget to even tell you who they are. Perhaps they think I am certain to know who dumbwit@largepuddle.com is.
    I have to admit that my first preference in the workplace is for email. It is also partially due to a lack of trust. I have a pretty good memory and I don’t have to think far back to one of my bosses who would ‘verbally’ tell you to do things and then blatantly deny it if he came under any pressure.
    As I have said, any comment from me about the business of texting is worthless, but I cannot fail to observe those that do use texting, like, for example, the lady driver that I passed on a busy Kalgoorlie road a couple of weeks ago looking downward and holding her phone with her thumb flicking over the buttons, or the businessman attending a conference in Kalgoorlie that stepped off the footpath in front of my vehicle because he was busy texting… Luckily for him…. I wasn’t.
    I quite like Blogs and Opinion sections too. I must state again that I am only modestly educated and I am definitely not the brightest button, but one needs to be very selective about where and when one ‘blogs’ and even then I find strange and wildly varied rules of moderation being applied. For example (I will use the ABC as an example because I consider that I am a great fan of Aunty.) I might comment on the cricket on the ABC’s national website, but frequently the comments that are allowed – that is, not deleted by the moderators – are dumb in the extreme so any chance of a halfway intelligent chat with anyone is invaded by morons. Any conversely, the Local ABC website forum seems so regulated that the moderator seems to rule with an iron fist to the extent that he/she raises the subject and is lucky to get one or two responses.
    Are texting and email antisocial? I suppose they can be in many ways, but don’t blame the technology; blame the way we are all going. I took the car in for service yesterday and, for exercise, I walked home from the service centre and I walked back when the car was ready. Foolishly (I suppose) I spoke to a couple of people that I passed on the footpath as a meandered along. Nothing much; just a casual “G’day”. I double checked in the mirror when I got home, but was surprised, but very pleased to find that I didn’t have two heads and that I was fully clothed.

    Bill

  2. Ebony Jackson on April 2nd, 2009 12:49am

    Yay Bill.

    Texting is not my thingo either…there are just not enough swear words to cover my experience. Too hard basket for complications, mine is so heavy I can’t move it

    Email is absolutely fine…most times.

    Lately I have been working with Office professional 2007 on my PC.

    For the last 2 days I have a complete brain snap…my efforts to email a friend have gone belly up.

    Strewth I am just not strong enough with all the whiz bang tech no dram stuff,

    Oh God, now I am gong to disappear into a bottle of Prozac and a Valium chaser.

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