Text messaging is destroying conversation

Arcade Fire · 14 Jun 2006 at 14:44

Otacon said:
Written communication has it's place of course, but when you have other (better) methods, and when the conversation piece is reasonably important/personal... why do people still resort to text? Is it generational?

Those pesky kids. :mad:

divine` · 14 Jun 2006 at 14:44

Otacon said:
Regardless though, if you had something important to say, are you happy to say it over text?

'ur dmped, lol'

Incorrect.

"ur dumped, ufl"

kitten_caboodle · 14 Jun 2006 at 14:45

Otacon said:
Well, being born in 1905 you certainly cant blame the generation gap...

I know, texting certainly beats a couple o'tin cans and a length of string. I never got the hang of them damn pidgeon carrier things either

Yas786 · 14 Jun 2006 at 14:51

kitten_caboodle said:
....or is that just me that throught this?

Huh??, thought what exactly??.

Its true though, i no longer text my gf because she has a habit of taking things i say the wrong way but then im quite sarcastic at times but you would think after almost a year she would be used to it. Not only that texting her costs me a bomb lol

, seeing as she lives and works in NYC...only here till next monday then shes off back to NYC.

Plus with her id rather chat to her on the phone or face to face...sometimes its tiring all this sms crap...more so when she gets upset because ive said something to her in jest...i spend a good hr or so trying to explain what i meant etc etc then finally she relents and says shes sorry lol.....like i said women pffft

zetec452 · 14 Jun 2006 at 14:52

My mates alwys laugh at me because virtually eveytime they text me i'll give them a ring.

Whats the point in trying to organise a night out over 20 text messages when you can pick up the phone?

People are very lazy these days.

Admiral Huddy · 14 Jun 2006 at 14:56

I agree Otacon..and with the above ^

. It seems each time we invent something which helps us communicate and stay in touch with each other, we then immediately follow it up with something to avoid the communication taking place in the first place :rolleyes:

.

Phone > Answerphone.
Mobile phone > Texting

I think it does make people very anti-social and what's more it's ******** annoying on the train when all you hear is that damn BLEEP-BLEEP / BLEEP-BLEEP :mad:

That said i do text but not a lot. However, I always speak to me freinds on the phone when I can. mainly cos i can't be bothered with all that thumb typing!!

MNuTz · 14 Jun 2006 at 14:56

Otacon said:
At least, in my experience. Last night a whole hoo-haa kicked off over some stupid crap that was misinterpreted by text messages that got delivered the wrong way round.

A while I go I flat refused to discuss anything over text, but there are some people I just cant trust to tell me things to my face.... god knows why. The problem with texts is they just aren’t interpreted as *you* want them to, and what use is that in a discussion? There's no tone of voice, facial expressions or emotion.... it's just not good enough. Fwiw, this seems to only apply to females.

Dont get me wrong, text messaging has it's place ("Running late, mine's a Strongbow"), but I fear that with the younger generation being exposed to, and relying on the technology, the necessity of discussion will be lost and people will forget how to communicate.

Anybody else experience this?

[/vent]

Isnt that exactly like this forum? and the internet as a whole?

Its very hard to understand people in the workd of text due to the lack of contact. We use tone of voice and facial expressions as well as the words to understand what someone is saying, with phone calls you at least get a tone of voice.

But online and via text messages it is very easy to be taken the wrong way!

Kell_ee001 · 14 Jun 2006 at 15:01

kitten_caboodle said:
yeah absolutely. I've had some things taken totally the wrong way on text. MSN and email too - read back something I've sent and realise that although the words are right, the tone seems all wrong even with smilies

Sometimes read more into what other people have said too - I must rely a lot on voice and body language to interpret what people mean so without it i'm a bit lost.

I'm exactly the same. Had some big fights over email in the past which were often sorted out in minutes once we finally spoke

Otacon · 14 Jun 2006 at 15:03

MNuTz said:
Isnt that exactly like this forum? and the internet as a whole?

Well yes, but it's not like we have any other option on here, whereas IRL, you can just go down the pub or something. Plus, you can take more time to try and express yourself better in this environment. You can type a lot more (and with proper language - no excuse with a real keyboard), do you best with the emoticons, place emphasis on words using formatting...

kitten_caboodle · 14 Jun 2006 at 15:04

Kell_ee001 said:
I'm exactly the same. Had some big fights over email in the past which were often sorted out in minutes once we finally spoke

I'm much more arsey on email if I think someone's being funny with me. Face to face I'd always avoid the confrontation, but in email something just riles me and I'm a proper keyboard warrior

. I sent my mate a really snotty email once, wasn't meant to be, but when I read it back I was like OMGWFT :eek:

I rang her and apologised, but she still reminds me about it all the time, just to embarrass me.

MrMatteh · 14 Jun 2006 at 15:18

... he says on an internet forum

holly35 · 14 Jun 2006 at 15:19

I text an awful lot, but I dont like to discuss important issues over them. Normally I choose to text because my text's are free, whereas my call time is not. I normally text to either arrange something, or just for general chit chat, or to say something nice (cos that person can keep it

)
Texting is rubbish to say how you really feel though, some of you may know I love to talk a lot, and trying to fit everything that I want to say into 140 letters just doesn't work for me!

Rich_L · 14 Jun 2006 at 15:21

Talking about free texts, anyone seen that Orange Dolphin tariff, it's like 400 anytime minutes and 1750 texts :eek:

Who the hell could use 1750 texts in a month!! :eek:

divine` · 14 Jun 2006 at 15:23

Rich_L said:
Talking about free texts, anyone seen that Orange Dolphin tariff, it's like 400 anytime minutes and 1750 texts

Who the hell could use 1750 texts in a month!!

Someone who sends almost 60 texts per day?

Kell_ee001 · 14 Jun 2006 at 15:28

Rich_L said:
Who the hell could use 1750 texts in a month!!

A few months my ex and I regularly used 1000 texts to eachother but we didn't quite hit that mark

holly35 · 14 Jun 2006 at 15:37

Rich_L said:
Talking about free texts, anyone seen that Orange Dolphin tariff, it's like 400 anytime minutes and 1750 texts

Who the hell could use 1750 texts in a month!!

That is quite intense texting tbh! Iv had my phone about 3-4 months and sent 1518! I get 300 free texts a month and recently find I use them all within about 2-3 weeks.

Freefaller · 14 Jun 2006 at 15:41

Text can be fun with someone you're flirting with and being a bit cheeky. Texts work if you haven't got the opportunity to chat or you're not in the position to chat. Good for sending a quick "heads up". Still you can never be sure it's been read or understood.

Texts and msn and the internet are very much open to mis-interpretation. If it's something important the rule is as follows:

Phone call > text.

Sorry to hear you've had some crap to put up with. Hope it gets sorted.

I have 250texts a month and I didn't always use them even with texting Roz a few times a day. I have 200mins every month and I always managed to use those and rolled over minutes. I may be using them less though now :/

Beansprout · 14 Jun 2006 at 15:47

I don't see people's addiction to texting. My sister is on her phone texting all the time and I just don't see the reason, need or point.

My friends generally don't text or call much. We get organised before we go out and appear in the right places at the right times.

It's funny - maybe we just missed all this 'modern teen stuff' because without exception our younger siblings are far worse than us and far more addicted to the more pointless technology.

Humans have been communicating with the written word for thousands of years, and I write hundreds of words a day in e-mails...I don't think I've ever been misinterpreted by the recipient.

I suppose years ago it wasn't so common for, er, the so-called common classes to write so much but these days there's easy access for everyone? Maybe that's a factor?

It's not like using abbreviations is an excuse anyway. T9 absolutely rocks and produces nigh-on-perfect words from just a few letters in the word!

I think it's the people, not the tech. Tech changes, people stay the same - they just produce their crap in a slightly different way.

I mean really, the texts I saw from Bristolian girls while I was at college :eek:

:eek

Psymonkee · 14 Jun 2006 at 16:38

Not long ago I recieved a text message that had obviously been sent in error (unknown number, bizarre message) here is what it read (yes I still haven't deleted it

)

Code:

Yo waguan..i cn hak ya add bk if ya want..jus cum online nw plz

took me a few mins to decipher and still haven't a clue what it was about

/me deletes

Otacon · 14 Jun 2006 at 16:41

holly35 said:
some of you may know I love to talk

I like it when you talk too

Rich_L said:
Who the hell could use 1750 texts in a month!!

I had a mate who once had a ~£400 phone bill...... 3500 texts and I dont remember how many minutes...... IN A MONTH :/

Beansprout said:
I suppose years ago it wasn't so common for, er, the so-called common classes to write so much but these days there's easy access for everyone? Maybe that's a factor?

Possibly, though I think that just brings us back to the age thing. Years ago it would have been big earning business type folk, and even if it was accessible to the 'common' types, I think most adults these days (thinking a generation or two above ours) couldn't read translate speak in the same way they couldn't translate arabic