It is a non negligible fact that text messaging is one of the best tools to improve our lives. We can reach out to whoever we want to in a second. But well, I am not super happy about it.
Since we’re in this post digital age, I will definitely have a ton of people disagreeing with my point of view. People LOVE texting. I mean, the facility of being able to get any updates from anyone, anytime is super cool, I’m not saying anything about it. But, I have this feeling that it invades my personal space a little.
All around the internet I have been seeing these memes about how people get super terrified when their phone rings, and even that they wait for the other person stop calling so they can text “oh you called me, what’s up?” instead of having this whole conversation on phone. I get it, not feeling socially comfortable and maybe being very used to hiding behind our phones has made us become not willing to leave our comfort zone. Though, at the same, I don’t really get why texting is seen way easier than calling someone (leaving out the group chats).
I am a bad texter -so this whole page can also be thought as me trying to justify this bad treat of mine. But I have some thoughts on how social media, mainly texting applications, even more specifically WhatsApp invades personal space… It becomes a big responsibility that I really don’t want to deal with. I may sound cruel but bare with me, I will clarify myself as much as possible.
Drowning under the texts waiting to be replied…
Couple of days back one of my friends opened my WhatsApp and I cannot forget his facial expression when he saw that I had 99+ unread messages, especially when he realized that some of these messages were from a year ago. I was accused by heartlessly ghosting people which is… Wrong in a sense that not answering to these people is definitely not my primal intention! The more texts I receive, the bigger the non-replied message pile gets. And, bigger the pile is, smaller my will of replying to them becomes. Don’t get me wrong: this is definitely not the fault of people trying to reach out to me. I don’t even know who to find responsible for about this. The only thing I am sure about is that it leaves out a big to do list for me, which feels very unnatural.
Call me maybe
From my point of view, it is so much easier to just pick up the phone, have the conversation and just shut it down. No need to send long texts, no need to worry about how the text I sent sounded. There have already been a lot of discussions on how this age of technology is sort of splitting us apart and very much lacking the warmth that humankind needs, etc. so I am not going to delve into that. I also already mentioned how texting help us communicate fast and efficiently, more than any other method of (digital) communication. But, hearing the voice of the person I am communicating with feels ten times better than a dry text. Vocal communication also allows us to make sense out of only the accentuation, without the need of analyzing the verbal context. To be fair, this makes me much more comfortable when I want to fully understand someone. In addition, calling also makes the pile of not replied messages way smaller. I will always agree with how facilitating texting is, but sorry all, if you want to reach me, just call me.
Sources
https://ahseeit.com/?qa=28420/when-someone-calls-you-instead-of-just-texting-back-meme
I’ve had the same thoughts as you when it comes to the memes about “when someone calls you instead of texting back”! Personally, I find texting easier for small practical messages but I much prefer calling people if, for example, catching up with friends or family, discussing something that could be misunderstood over text, or anything that requires more than a few messages back and forth.
I kinda agree with you but also not haha. That’s because I am one of those people who wait until their phone stops ringing and then ask you why you called. Yes, guilty as charged. I actually have no clue why I do this though, since just picking up the phone is so much easier and more effortless than opening Whatsapp, replying and asking why somebody called. Maybe I am socially too awkward or just the pressure of answering directly (even though you might not feel like it) is just too big. And too be honest, when you’re not feeling like talking to anybody, you could just always say ‘Oh sorry I didn’t hear my phone ringing’. Well, that’s at least what I do. This is however completely different when somebody calls me on the landline. I don’t know why but then I always pick up the phone immediately, probably because they want to speak to my parents anyways, so I am off the hook.