I have finally joined the ranks of the well-connected, after having received my new cell-phone/Palm Pilot combo. This is a wonderful little device, with not only the ability to make phone calls, but take pictures, movies, voice recordings, play MP3’s, and even, with the right setup, play DVD’s.
Granted, I am morbidly fascinated by things that go beep, with shiny little blinky-lights, but in this case, considering I got this phone as a free warranty replacement for an outdated and less featurific model, I will not be complaining anytime soon. Additionally, I am now able to flaunt my geek prowess with this trophy of technological superiority to all of my nerdy friends.
And all of this integration and connectivity has given me a newfound respect for continued advances in technology, with the ability to cram even more ubiquotous abilities into one piece of micro-machinery. Web access for those times when I’m not near a computer; e-mail for quick messages to colleagues and coworkers; and of course, voice and voice mail to keep myself abreast of work and personal related activities.
Except for one thing, that is still confusing me regarding its seemingly endless usage: SMS Text Messenging.
Granted, text messenging has its place. In a noisy or crowded environment, it’s the perfect way to send off a quick message to a friend about whereabouts or meet-ups. In the event of a meeting or sonically solemn happenstance, it’s a great way to drop a note to a coworker about a project, and otherwise, text messaging has its place in the realms of being constantly connected.
But, in more occassions than makes me comfortable, I have witnessed parties hold entire conversations with text messenging, awkwardly pawing at the miniscule buttons, only to have no real reason to keep from calling each other on the device that they are already using.
Why the step backwards into technological antiquity? Why induce further strain in your wrists and fingers only to have a conversation where you do not have the luxury of determining the truer intent of the other party, simply because text does not hold inflection and vocal intonation inherent with a more personal conversation? Why are regressing into a method of communication now equal to chess by mail? Why not just call each other on the damn phone, as it were, since you both obviously have one?
In other areas of the world, with infinitely more flexible and advanced communications backbones, the concept of video communications via cell-phones has already begun to surface in the market. Here in the States, we will probably be seeing this capability in the next two years or so, but as the desire for multi-modal communication meets and exceeds technology’s ability to facilitate it, we will find ourselves with countless, nifty ways to hold our meaningless conversations about He said She said, but will still be using the technological equivalent of chisel on stone tablet.
Not to mention the inherent, ongoing destruction that SMS text users are doing to the English language. Suddenly, sentences that were once meaningful regress into poorly-spelled, tripe-filled grafiti-like sprawls barely intelligible by those who are truly literate. Now, I’m seeing this type of writing in more common places, such as online journals, websites, and of course, the video gaming subculture (which, actually, in its defence, had already started out as regressed and sub-human long-before the inception of mass text messenging via cell phones).
My solution is that the cell-phone companies stop touting text messenging as a feature. It’s become such a natural inclusion in such devices anyway, that it’s no longer a major concern when choosing a provider and phone, and instead, we concentrate on the newer, and inherently more shiny features. But for most people, it would seem, it ain’t about the shiny… only the archaic. In any event, here’s to infinitely more cases of carpal tunnel syndrome.
Originally printed in the Daily O’Collegian, January 14th, 2004
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