I must be getting long in the tooth, because I feel the need to write a rant about technology today:
Over the last year or so, I’ve noticed that getting in touch with people by phone has become a lot more difficult than it used to be. At first, I was a little mystified, and wondered why people seem to be dropping off the face of the earth. I knew it wasn’t me, because this was not limited merely to acquaintances, but friends and family as well. My sister, my cousins, old friends — they all seemed to have vanished. After a while, I realized it was because they don’t really talk on the phone any longer. They text.
I’ve avoided texting for a variety of reasons. Originally, it was because it feels clumsy to me. I first tried it years ago on the old folding cell phones, and not very impressed by this means of communication, I failed to make it a habit. I was also not particularly happy that people were being charged something like 20 cents a text. Knowing how little data is required to send an ASCII text, I realized what a massive ripoff this was. At 28.8 kb/s – standard for voice calls if I recall correctly – one minute of voice transmission uses vastly more data than a dumb little text message. Seemed to me that texting was a technological step backward to the days of IRC — maybe even the telegraph for that matter! And here the telecoms were charging people up to $50 a month for it.
Next, I realized that texts were stored electronically, and would always be there on the receiving party’s phone (or at least they’d be there for a long time). While I’m well aware that voice calls can be tapped and recorded, it’s far less likely, and for the most part when you hang up the words remain only in human memory. I may not be plotting any criminal activity, but the idea that innocuous personal communication will stick around forever still bothers the hell out of me. It’s like keeping all the wrappers from the fast food you’ve eaten over the years. To think that some government agency is keeping all that info bothers me in the same way that it would if a cop were to go through my garbage and document it with a pen and notepad every day.
Another annoying thing about text is that you have no idea whether people will reply. You can text someone, and they respond at leisure, or not at all. If you ask someone a question on the phone, they respond, or they refuse to do so. Either way, you know where you stand. Texts are also a good excuse for blowing someone off without having to look them in the eye. Say you stand someone up for one reason or another. Instead of having to tell them and listen to a response, you can just shoot off a texted excuse that may or may not be true, and then just ignore responses. I can’t even imagine what dating must be like in the age of texting.
Finally, I like talking and listening. Conversation is one of those uniquely human exercises and pleasures. To have a nice talk with someone is refreshing, enlightening and satisfying. A text just doesn’t cut it. In fact, it’s a crappy substitute, and I worry about kids who grow up using it as their primary medium of communication. Will they be able to speak with the proper cadence and intonation of American English? Will they end up sounding like robots? Sounds far-fetched, but the convergence of male and female styles of speech suggests that our young people may have some speech impairments from lack of practice.
For these reasons and others, I have refused to take up texting even as the rest of the world passed me by. Today, teens and young adults exchange an average of almost 100 texts a day, while I haven’t sent a mobile text message in years.
Nevertheless, it looks like my little redoubt is under siege. I’m going to have to eventually embrace the silence and get a smart phone if I want to operate in modern society.
However, I’d like some encryption options, or perhaps something that erases texts after they’ve been read. If any readers have any suggestions along these lines, I’d be happy to hear them. So far, there doesn’t seem to be much on offer, but perhaps the growing awareness of widespread snooping will wake a few companies up.
