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Wednesday, April 15, 2015

The Daily Chai is Going On About Texting Again

Today's Chai was delicious, yay!

I miss talking on the phone. Remember when you used to call people? Remember when you could talk to someone for an hour on the phone and it was awesome? Now when my phone rings, I panic because someone must be injured or dead for people to pick up the phone and make a call.  In fact, my phone rings so very rarely now that it startles me every time! Turns out it's just telemarketers. Or Anna barfed at daycare. 

remember when my bestie called me to tell me she said yes to the dress with her parents and I answered the phone thinking something terrible had happened to her. I'd forgotten she'd gone dress shopping with them to see what her dad thought of the dress. When she called me with her voice filled with emotion, my heart started pounding. Now, I'm the first to admit I'm a tiny bit dramatic, but it's almost a natural response at this stage in our evolution because  people never call anymore except in an emergency. 

I do really love being able to text people. I'm perfectly content to have whole conversations with three different people at the same time, something you can't do if you're making calls. But...I still miss actually speaking to people. 

Being single again, I've reconnected with a few different people and it makes me think about how we used to interact. How we used to call each other and say, okay, I'll meet you in twenty minutes at Country Style, or I'll be at you place in ten minutes, let's go! Or we'd just talk on the phone because we couldn't make it out. We all had a lot more time back then, I guess, but society's also changed. We think we're connecting by staying in touch more frequently with text, but we're not.

It makes me sad because I think a lot is missing in texts. Emotion, inflection, facial expression, tone, emphasis, hand gestures, none of these things can be caught over text. I've  typed messages to people to tell them they've just made me actually laugh out loud because they can't just HEAR ME LAUGH. I have had huge misunderstandings over text because the person can't see the expression on my face when I type something ridiculous. Instead I have to put "lol" after every blasted sentence so they known I'm trying to be funny. Instead of just BEING FUNNY.

I watch movies where people interact with each other in person and I think, we don't do that as much as we should. These people don't seem to text each other as much as people in the real world, but you know why? Because a movie of people just sitting around texting each other would be the most boring shit movie you ever saw. 

So how annoying would it be if I stopped texting and just started calling people? I honestly wonder if they would be happy to hear from me or would they be annoyed that they had to take time out to talk? How annoying would it be if suddenly none of us could text anymore and we actually had to take time to talk to each other? Anarchy, baby, anarchy. 

As an added bonus, I bring you a pet peeve: 

Pet Peeve #357
People who spit on the street. It's seriously fucking gross. Stop it. 


2 comments:

Anonymous said...

I think we text (or in my case email) cause we are insecure. It is very easy to say the wrong thing, but very easy to proof read or blame auto correct or fat fingers. Plus it's private. If I call you everyone around me hears me talking, but if I text it's like a little secret. They both have their charms I guess, but you are right, the voice call is a dying breed. Time marches on. - SC

The Daily Chai said...

I completely agree on both points. We can put a text out there without having to hear the person's reaction, especially when we're worried about their reaction. As for the privacy thing, I agree that having a conversation with someone but no one around me can hear what it's about can be a plus in many situations. I still miss talking to people though!