With all the technology that's come about in the recent years. I thought I would take a look at how it effects our communication habits.styles.strategies.
Remember the days before smartphones? The days when if you didn't know something you simply did not know (until you went home and used your dialup internet to find the answer to question that chances are, you don't remember). The days when you had to memorize the phone numbers of your family and friends, when zip codes weren't an issue.
When you made plans by calling another person, and hashing out the details because it was the only available option. When leaving voicemails was the standard way to relay a message. When it was okay to not know what everyone else was doing every second, of every hour, of everyday, at the flick of the wrist.
Those were the days.
And I'm aware that modern technology is ill. The fact that you can order pizza without speaking to anyone, while on the phone, while waiting for a cab that you "hailed" through an app on your phone is crazy. Just think of the leaps and bounds that we've gone through to get to this point, and it really is just the beginning.
I think the major problem with us being so interconnected is that we've become too dependent on expediency. Instant gratification isn't fast enough, we wanted a response to our iMessage.text.snap.tweet. and we wanted it last week.
Nowadays, if you don't respond to a text message within two minutes, you're deemed a bad person. I guess what I'm getting at is,
what are the manners for our modern messages?
Say you're texting, and you and a close friend are discussing upcoming plans. After exchanging fifteen messages or so, you both have only confirmed the time at which you're meeting. Next comes the place, but in the midst of getting a notification that someone mentioned you in a tweet, or that your credit card bill is due in three days. The next thing you know you've logged into every app on your home screen, and you've forgotten to text your friend back about dinner plans; or at least they think you have.
The next thing you know you're getting the infamous double text, which usually consists of just a "?" but what that question mark really means is:
WHY HAVEN'T YOU ANSWERED MY TEXT?????!??!?!?!??!?!?!?!?!!!!!!?!!!!! IT'S BEEN LIKE AN HOUR (actual time? seven minutes)
Do you apologize and explain that you had to check a few things? Or do you just go continue the conversation like nothing ever happened. Or does it matter on how long it's been since they asked you a question? - so many things to consider these days...it's exhausting.
What's a "reasonable" amount of time that someone can wait before responding to your text message. Does it matter if you were having a conversation that ended abruptly? Does that have an effect on the time limit you set for others?
People are getting in car accidents to text back "Sorry I'm driving", to apologize for misspellings. I'm guilty of texting while driving, I'm sure a lot of us are. You're at a red light, and someone honks to let you know that the light has changed, yet for some reason you're annoyed that they're honking at you, makes sense. I've definitely thought that before, so don't worry you're not alone.
tl;dr I miss the days when people spoke, on the phone, to each other to make plans. Instead of starting a conversation over a tweet, that leads to a message in your inbox, that leads to a text on your phone about the dinner that's probably cancelled because someone took too long deciding which instagram filter to use for their selfie.
keep it raw.