Talking F2F
While talking to my son the other night, I heard a strange rumble followed by him reaching for his cell phone. I then proceeded to watch him methodically and with much dexterity rapidly push a bunch of buttons using both thumbs. “What are you doing?” I asked. “Texting.” He said. “Wouldn’t it be easier just talk to the person on the phone?” I queried. “No!” he replied, and continued to text away.
I have often questioned whether cell phones represent an advancement in telecommunications, or whether it is actually a step backward. Here is a gizmo that I have carry around in a case on my belt. The reception is usually pretty awful when I use it. It can do many things, but my fingers are too fat to push the buttons. I have to recharge the battery every night. And between my phone, my wife’s, my son’s, and my mother’s, I pay a lot of money to buy “minutes” which I may or may not use.
On the other hand, there is my land line phone at home and the office. Locally, I can talk as long as I want to whomever I want regardless of whether that person is in my “circle”, whatever that means. The reception is clear. I have a long distance plan from AT&T which allows me to call anywhere in the United States for a flat fee. The phone is big so I can use it easily, and has a readily available volume button so I can hear and caller ID that I can actually see. All of this for about $50.00 per month…and my telephone number is in a big book so people who want to call me can look my number up. AND, now that cell phone numbers are being published for a price on the internet, I don’t have to worry about unwanted incoming calls using up my very expensive precious “minutes,” which I may or may not use anyways.
Land lines over cell phones is what I call a “no-brainer.” Yet my relatives in Michigan have given up their land line in favor of only using their cell phones…..why??
Texting is beyond the pale. In a nation which prides itself on technological communication, true social communication and interaction takes a back seat as one hides behind the texted message. First of all, I can’t text. I have painful ganglion on my thumb from over useage of the television clicker. All of those channels take a lot of thumb power to surf, and it hurts really bad. I can only imagine a whole generation of people developing arthritis or thumb joint issues over a period of years of texting. It’s the mother load for the carpel tunnel guys. I’ll have to buy some stock.
Then there is the language. Texting is an entire skill subset, hitting the phone buttons a certain number of times to get to the letter as one spells out the desired word. So a new dictionary of shortcuts has developed with meanings that are beyond my comprehension. The same high school kids who can’t learn Spanish, rapidly learn what “my bbf” means, and words like thnkx, 4U, and CUsn, as well as a myriad of other syntax shortcuts.
In a conversation at lunch with a friend who likes to text, I tried to explain that there is nothing new under the sun, including texting. America had it in 1910. We called it the telegraph. It also had its own language….Morse code. He retorted that it wasn’t “wireless”. Wrong techno-geek! Tell it to the guy who Morse coded SOS over Titanic’s “wireless” as it sank into the sea. Apparently there were dead spots in their wireless system also. Ours is on Route 224 by Mill Creek Park. “Can you hear me now?” Go back even further, and there were smoke signals and tom-toms, all to the same effect.
Notwithstanding, I learned that when the technological train is coming down the track, get out of the way. So: As I am SHID, I give you AML. SUL. I hope you are not LOL. Maybe next time we can talk F2F. :)
I have often questioned whether cell phones represent an advancement in telecommunications, or whether it is actually a step backward. Here is a gizmo that I have carry around in a case on my belt. The reception is usually pretty awful when I use it. It can do many things, but my fingers are too fat to push the buttons. I have to recharge the battery every night. And between my phone, my wife’s, my son’s, and my mother’s, I pay a lot of money to buy “minutes” which I may or may not use.
On the other hand, there is my land line phone at home and the office. Locally, I can talk as long as I want to whomever I want regardless of whether that person is in my “circle”, whatever that means. The reception is clear. I have a long distance plan from AT&T which allows me to call anywhere in the United States for a flat fee. The phone is big so I can use it easily, and has a readily available volume button so I can hear and caller ID that I can actually see. All of this for about $50.00 per month…and my telephone number is in a big book so people who want to call me can look my number up. AND, now that cell phone numbers are being published for a price on the internet, I don’t have to worry about unwanted incoming calls using up my very expensive precious “minutes,” which I may or may not use anyways.
Land lines over cell phones is what I call a “no-brainer.” Yet my relatives in Michigan have given up their land line in favor of only using their cell phones…..why??
Texting is beyond the pale. In a nation which prides itself on technological communication, true social communication and interaction takes a back seat as one hides behind the texted message. First of all, I can’t text. I have painful ganglion on my thumb from over useage of the television clicker. All of those channels take a lot of thumb power to surf, and it hurts really bad. I can only imagine a whole generation of people developing arthritis or thumb joint issues over a period of years of texting. It’s the mother load for the carpel tunnel guys. I’ll have to buy some stock.
Then there is the language. Texting is an entire skill subset, hitting the phone buttons a certain number of times to get to the letter as one spells out the desired word. So a new dictionary of shortcuts has developed with meanings that are beyond my comprehension. The same high school kids who can’t learn Spanish, rapidly learn what “my bbf” means, and words like thnkx, 4U, and CUsn, as well as a myriad of other syntax shortcuts.
In a conversation at lunch with a friend who likes to text, I tried to explain that there is nothing new under the sun, including texting. America had it in 1910. We called it the telegraph. It also had its own language….Morse code. He retorted that it wasn’t “wireless”. Wrong techno-geek! Tell it to the guy who Morse coded SOS over Titanic’s “wireless” as it sank into the sea. Apparently there were dead spots in their wireless system also. Ours is on Route 224 by Mill Creek Park. “Can you hear me now?” Go back even further, and there were smoke signals and tom-toms, all to the same effect.
Notwithstanding, I learned that when the technological train is coming down the track, get out of the way. So: As I am SHID, I give you AML. SUL. I hope you are not LOL. Maybe next time we can talk F2F. :)
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