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penfield"All noise is waste. So cultivate quietness in your speech, in your thoughts, in your emotions. Speak habitually low. Wait for attention and then you low words will be charged with dynamite."
- Elbert Hubbard
In the olden days, the days of yore, when people separated by some distance needed to communicate with each other, they had to rely on human intermediaries -- usually friendly acquaintances or military sentries -- who would personally carry messages from person to person. Since these distances often required extensive travel by horseback or clipper ship, the process proved inefficient, particularly for messages urgent (i.e., "my house is on fire, please send help") or spontaneous (i.e., "I saw ye at the barn-raising three weeks ago; may I take you out for dinner in two fortnights? I promise to have you back by August.")
Thereafter, in the slightly less olden days, the Pony Express was invented (by an eight-year-old girl, apparently) to formalize and expedite the exchange of correspondence. It was still slow, and one's mail always tended to smell like pony, but it was a real improvement over the previous system in that the Pony Express professionals had spiffy uniforms and were less likely to gossip about your scandalous/treasonous/homoerotic prose. The Pony Express eventually gave way to the U.S. Post Office, which carried out pretty much the same tasks except with longer lines.
When Samuel Morse created the single-wire telegraph system in 1832, he revolutionized the entire notion of interpersonal communication. The ingenous invention of morse code made long-distance station-to-station messages practically instantaneous. That is, unless you consider the exhausting process of dot-dash-dotting every damn letter of every damn letter of every damn sentence. Phone sex, as a practice, was a self-defeating endeavor.
It was perhaps an insatiable hunger for dirty talk that compelled Alexander Graham Bell to invent the telephone. (His first words on the phone: "Mr. Watson ... come here ... I want you.") And there we had it: a method and vehicle for contemporaneous, person-to-person communication across great distances. The development of electronic and radio technology has led to even greater advances -- portability, crystal-clarity, free nights and weekends -- and brings us to present-day.
But something is happening in the area of personal interaction that pleases me not one bit. I speak of text messaging. Somehow, text messaging has become an increasingly popular mode of communication. Serious conversations, polls and even journalistic interviews are now being conducted by text messaging. Almost all of this text messaging is actually being completed using cell phones.
This means that we have effectively and collectively turned up our noses at the perfectly wonderful utility of the telephone and reverted all the way back to the days of the telegraph -- tap-tap-tapping our thoughts at 10 cents per message.
I blame this largely on the advent of electronic mail, which developed in parallel with cellular telephone technology and introduced an entirely new freedom to the communicator: they could combine the instant gratification attendant to modern technology with the detatched, deliberate avoidance of confrontation inherent in the writing of a letter. Text messaging takes e-mail and makes it portable.
We are entirely connected, yet entirely disconnected. We are communicating, but only on our terms. We are engaged, but only at our leisure. In this way, text messaging is typically modern.
And it is also annoying. Most of my calls are free of charge, but text messages cost me a dime each. Text messaging me when you could just as easily call me is a sure way to raise my dander, especially since my phone will not allow me to reject them. Text messaging should be reserved for specific instances in which:
- actual voice conversation is impossible or prohibited;
- you do not want to hear anything the other person has to say; and/or
- the message you are sending is 100 percent unequivocal and requires or begs no additional follow-up that would require additional text messages.
I don't expect everyone -- hell, anyone -- to follow these rules. But I can dream, can't I? Dream of a world of five years ago?
- Elbert Hubbard
In the olden days, the days of yore, when people separated by some distance needed to communicate with each other, they had to rely on human intermediaries -- usually friendly acquaintances or military sentries -- who would personally carry messages from person to person. Since these distances often required extensive travel by horseback or clipper ship, the process proved inefficient, particularly for messages urgent (i.e., "my house is on fire, please send help") or spontaneous (i.e., "I saw ye at the barn-raising three weeks ago; may I take you out for dinner in two fortnights? I promise to have you back by August.")
Thereafter, in the slightly less olden days, the Pony Express was invented (by an eight-year-old girl, apparently) to formalize and expedite the exchange of correspondence. It was still slow, and one's mail always tended to smell like pony, but it was a real improvement over the previous system in that the Pony Express professionals had spiffy uniforms and were less likely to gossip about your scandalous/treasonous/homoerotic prose. The Pony Express eventually gave way to the U.S. Post Office, which carried out pretty much the same tasks except with longer lines.
When Samuel Morse created the single-wire telegraph system in 1832, he revolutionized the entire notion of interpersonal communication. The ingenous invention of morse code made long-distance station-to-station messages practically instantaneous. That is, unless you consider the exhausting process of dot-dash-dotting every damn letter of every damn letter of every damn sentence. Phone sex, as a practice, was a self-defeating endeavor.
It was perhaps an insatiable hunger for dirty talk that compelled Alexander Graham Bell to invent the telephone. (His first words on the phone: "Mr. Watson ... come here ... I want you.") And there we had it: a method and vehicle for contemporaneous, person-to-person communication across great distances. The development of electronic and radio technology has led to even greater advances -- portability, crystal-clarity, free nights and weekends -- and brings us to present-day.
But something is happening in the area of personal interaction that pleases me not one bit. I speak of text messaging. Somehow, text messaging has become an increasingly popular mode of communication. Serious conversations, polls and even journalistic interviews are now being conducted by text messaging. Almost all of this text messaging is actually being completed using cell phones.
This means that we have effectively and collectively turned up our noses at the perfectly wonderful utility of the telephone and reverted all the way back to the days of the telegraph -- tap-tap-tapping our thoughts at 10 cents per message.
I blame this largely on the advent of electronic mail, which developed in parallel with cellular telephone technology and introduced an entirely new freedom to the communicator: they could combine the instant gratification attendant to modern technology with the detatched, deliberate avoidance of confrontation inherent in the writing of a letter. Text messaging takes e-mail and makes it portable.
We are entirely connected, yet entirely disconnected. We are communicating, but only on our terms. We are engaged, but only at our leisure. In this way, text messaging is typically modern.
And it is also annoying. Most of my calls are free of charge, but text messages cost me a dime each. Text messaging me when you could just as easily call me is a sure way to raise my dander, especially since my phone will not allow me to reject them. Text messaging should be reserved for specific instances in which:
- actual voice conversation is impossible or prohibited;
- you do not want to hear anything the other person has to say; and/or
- the message you are sending is 100 percent unequivocal and requires or begs no additional follow-up that would require additional text messages.
I don't expect everyone -- hell, anyone -- to follow these rules. But I can dream, can't I? Dream of a world of five years ago?
My 10 cents
Date: 2008-11-03 03:01 am (UTC)--SJB