texting

To Text or Call: That is the Question?

Is texting just the latest fad that will go the way of pagers (remember them), MySpace, and PDAs?  I am genuinely interested in why and how texting became such the preferred way of communicating, especially among the millennial generation, but also for other generations.  Let’s go back a number of years to say, 1983, before anyone knew what the internet was, and virtually no one had a portable phone.  Doctors and salespeople were just beginning to use pagers, then called “beepers.”  Car phones, big bulky devices, were beginning to be installed on the floor boards of cars.  If hospitals (or sales managers) wanted to get in touch with people urgently, they used the pager, and the person would go to a pay phone (remember them?)  to return that urgent page.  Answer machines were actual machines where we could hear the message of the person calling (as it was being recorded) from another room in our house.  This was before the concept of “voicemail.”  So we had pagers, car phones, and primitive answer machines.

The internet intervened in our lives in a big way in the 90s, and really not much before that.  I was so excited to get an account with American Online, and instead of using my entire last name Saleebey, which wasn’t taken, I chose wsaleeb@aol.com, which I have kept until now, much to the chagrin of my gmail counterparts.  Social media began to emerge with sites like Friendster and MySpace, but it was mostly for the younger generation.  How did we communicate with the home office?  Facsimile, or fax as it came to be known.  “Fax it to me” became the business mantra of choice.  As e-mail began to take over and become ubiquitous, more businesses asked us to “e-mail it to me.”  I remember thinking that e-mail was just a passing fad.

Many things have intervened, some of them just fads and some of them have become a part of how we live our lives.  I am currently writing a “blog post,” which didn’t exist as such just a few years ago.  I get e-mail constantly, use a laptop computer, a smart phone, and have come closer and closer to my limit of 200 text messages a month.  As a 63 year old man, I am neither a Luddite or a technology trend setter, but somewhere in between.  I actually got an IPhone because my last device wouldn’t receive text messages without a hassle.  I notice the transition from calling someone when you are running late to texting them.  I really don’t believe texting at that point is fundamentally better or even quicker.  I am a big believer in fads and trends, and that they all pass at some point.  For example, markets now have self check-out, but they often have market employees doing all of the work for you, so it’s not really self check-out at all.

There always seems to be someone on the cutting edge, or the supposed cutting edge, telling us we have to get a Betamax machine, subscribe to Home Box Office (that’s HBO in case you forgot), join Friendster, or join Netflix.  By the time I get around to some of those things, they have been replaced by something quicker, sleeker, or trendier.  I have begun to text more, but at times I feel it is just as efficient to make a phone call, especially when I want a dialogue or clarification without a lot of back and forth.  Besides, it is downright dangerous to text while driving.

My concerns center around that fact that as a society, we tend to embrace the latest technological advance, regardless of the benefits of more traditional modes of communication.  A phone call still serves a purpose, though texting may be quicker and mitigate the need to actually have a conversation with human voices.  I am not opposed to texting or anything that might come after it.  What concerns me is the blind embracing of the new technologies, without considering that a more “primitive” channel of communication might work just as well.  Some people seem to be using text messaging to prove how modern they are, regardless of the appropriateness of it.  As a baby boomer, I can observe members of my generation almost equally divided among those who embrace new technologies, and those who eschew any and all of them.  Some people are kind of caught in the middle, like when we call someone on the phone, hoping for voicemail so we don’t have to actually talk to them.  I’m certain that next year (or next month for that matter) some new form of communication will emerge as the preferred or hippest method, and many will rush to use it.  As for me, you can call me, e-mail me, send me a message through FB or LinkedIn.  I will try to check all of them every minute, so I never miss anything.  Or I might just move to a tropical island like I did in 1976 and hide from everyone for a year.

What about you?  Are you just infatuated with texting, or do you really believe that it is the most efficient way to get your message across to others?

Technology: How much more can it change?

I grew up with rotary phones, busy signals, party lines (not political), and being in the middle of nowhere with no cell phone.  I have seen the rise and fall of answer machines, pagers, “car” phones, and many other technology fads and developments.  The more things change, the more things change.  Just when you get used to one more advance, another one is on its way.  I tweet, friend people on Facebook, but have yet to “de-family” anyone.  I find it ironic and dangerous that not two years after California passed a “hands-free” law outlawing holding a cell phone to your ear, most people in LA are doing something with their hands that has to do with technology while driving and there aren’t nearly enough police to enforce the laws.  I am among the guilty, though I don’t hold the phone to my ear.  Texting has become a true pandemic, and no one really knows how many accidents have happened or are going to happen because someone was typing LOL or OMG on their portable keyboard while crossing Wilshire Boulevard.  Just when I fully embraced e-mail, texting virtually replaced it, especially for younger generations.  I was sitting on a Metro train in Boston, and virtually everyone was doing something on their personal “hand held device.”  Considering how much everything has changed in 5, 10, and 15 years, I cannot imagine what things will be like in 5, 10, and 15 years.  It seems like only yesterday people would get someone’s answering machine and say, “Bob, are your there, can you hear me, pick up the phone.”  Now we text the person in the next room to tell them we are going to stand up.  I’m trying to stay on board and stay connected.  But there are times I just want to call a friend and shoot the breeze, chew the fat, and gab.  Call me old fashioned, but you really can’t do a voice impression or emphasize something in a text message.  I don’t know what the future holds, but I will never give certain things up, as long as I have some choices.  So page me tomorrow, and I’ll send you a letter  with a stamp on the envelope.  LOL