Texting

Here's a connection/thought for the morning...

Is the voice communications an anomaly between writing letters for generations of humankind and writing emails and txts?

What I mean is that it seems humans have been writing letters to communicate for all of human life until telephons came into existence a 100 or so years ago. The telephone history is so short compared to writing that even now, it seems outdated where the young generation (us included) prefer to text instead of pick up the phone and call most people. While the structure of texting and email is far different from writing long letters, the means is the same where writing seems to trump our voices?

I find that I prefer writing only because I find that my thoughts are better communicated by writing than by voice.

This thought also parallels my though on how audio cassettes were an anomaly between vinyl and CDs (both round, both being read in a circular fashion from edge to the inner circle).

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Here's the article on nytimes.com, where it talks about texting and cell phone communications in the teenage setting.


March 9, 2008
Text Generation Gap: U R 2 Old (JK)
By Laura M. Holson

...

Children increasingly rely on personal technological devices like cellphones to define themselves and create social circles apart from their families, changing the way they communicate with their parents.

Innovation, of course, has always spurred broad societal changes. As telephones became ubiquitous in the last century, users — adults and teenagers alike — found a form of privacy and easy communication unknown to Alexander Graham Bell or his daughters.

...

"Texting is in between calling and sending and e-mail," he explained while taking a break from study hall. Now he won't even consider writing a letter to his mother, Jan. "It's too time consuming," he said. "You have to go to the post office. Instead, I can sit and watch television and send a text, which is the same thing."

...

Mr. Pence is well aware of how destabilizing cellphones, iPods and hand-held video game players can be to family relations. "I see kids text under the table at the restaurant," he said. "They don't teach them etiquette anymore." Some children, he said, watch videos in restaurants.

"They don't know that's the time to carry on a conversation," he said. "I would like to walk up to some tables and say, 'Kids, put your iPods and your cellphones away and talk to your parents.' "

...

Consider this: Brandon Gallick, who is 23, recalled a night last year when he was driving home on a country road near Hillsborough, N.J., and a large donkey ran in front of his car. He couldn't wait to get home to call his mother. "I had to text my mom right away," he said, noting he sent text messages to friends, too. "I wanted to tell her about it because it was so funny. We don't see many donkeys in New Jersey."

Ms. Gallick appreciated the message. "I like it when he does that," she said. "It makes me feel special." But again, the unintended consequence was more miscommunication for her.

...

In fact, texting appears to be easier than talking for some cellphone users, providing yet another distraction for them inside their cars. Mr. Blanton at Vanderbilt, like many of his peers, texts his mother and friends even when both of his hands should be on the steering wheel.

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MS. TURKLE, the M.I.T. professor, says cellphones offer another way for the Facebook generation to share every life experience the second it unfolds.

"There is a slippage from 'I have a feeling I want to make a call' to 'I need to make a call,' " she said. "You don't get to have a feeling before sharing that feeling anymore."

...

Full article here:
http://www.nytimes.com/2008/03/09/business/09cell.html?ei=5087&em=&en=485905a7419a55c7&ex=1205294400&pagewanted=all


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¡dhruv!
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