Tuesday, July 26, 2011
Convenient Communication. When is Texting and E-Mail Just Not Enough? And Winner!!
What is it about people today? Me, You, Them. What is it that makes us so distant from each other even though we say we are "close". Texting is the new "close and personal". We do it because it is easier. Takes less time. We can multi-task. E-mail is easier because it doesn't talk back and we can keep things quick. I get it. I totally do. E-mail, text, facebook walls...all of these things are a part of my daily life. I text with friends often...sharing jokes, sending random thoughts, asking questions, making plans and just connecting! But when is it too much? When it is just time to pick up the phone and actually talk?
I'm okay with text, e-mail, and facebook being a main source of communication with my friends. It certainly makes things easier and it allows busy people, who might otherwise not have the time to connect, the opportunity to pass jokes, make plans, and share moments of their days with people they love. These forms of communication work especially well with new friends or people who we don't know on a too terribly personal level.
All this "easy communicating" is fine but there comes a point where I think we just need to pick up the phone and have a conversation with the people that we call "friend" and "family". I've done it. Someone calls, I shoot them voicemail and then I respond later with text. Easy peezy! If they were just calling to "chat", I might even forget to call back because I figure that they will understand that I got busy or didn't find time. When does this become rude? Inappropriate? When does this convenient responding finally send the message to someone that "You don't matter enough" or "I have more important things to spend my time on"?
This convenience is all fine if we want convenient relationships with people. This isn't enough for me with certain people in my life. This "convenient and distant" type of relationship is fine with a lot of people but when someone that I call a close friend or family can't make the effort or break free from their busy schedule (which is probably not that busy), and stretch themselves out of their safe comfort zone to return a call every once in awhile, it is hurtful in a sense. It seems rude. Sometimes we just need to pick up the phone and talk with our voice, not our thumbs.
Amanda
Looks like "K" is the lucky letter of the day! Winners of the Run Like a Mother giveaway were #34 and #52. K and Momma K from Welcome to the Jungle. Please contact me so I can arrange to have your book and sweaty bands sent to you!
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Congrats to the winners!! I definitely still enjoy talking on the phone, especially to my family members, but I do a lot of emailing and texting with friends of mine.
ReplyDeletetotally agree.. prb is when I get on the phone all I hear is MOM!!!!!!!!!!!
ReplyDeleteI hear ya on the "mom!!!" thing. This why I mostly text and e-mail. I love texting and e-mailing but sometimes you just need to call someone back.
ReplyDeletenicely said: convenient communication=convenient relationships. what a good reminder. in fact, i'm going to go pick up the phone right now. thanks!!!
ReplyDeleteI am all about texting unless it's talking with my grandma and then I'll use the phone. What did we do without texting?!? And email?!?
ReplyDeleteK - one of my favorite letters!;-)Yippee!! Thanks so much! Emailing you now...
ReplyDeleteWell said - I honestly go through those thoughts all of the time. I always pick up the phone to call my parents, as opposed to just texting; but do I text too much to close friends, rather than giving them a personal call?
ReplyDeleteI email and text a lot - but there are definitely places for improvement on my call log...
I don't really like to talk on the phone, but I will if I can't visit friends in person (and since I have friends all over the US and Europe visiting can be tricky). I dislike texting, and only send about a text a week.
ReplyDeleteI'm not a big phone person either...especially with kids...it is hard. However, what I'm talking about here is more returning phone calls and calling someone that has obviously made an effort to "CALL" and not just text or e-mail and has asked you to "Call" back. It seems rude to then just respond in a text in certain circumstances.
ReplyDeleteHi! New follower here. Love the blog!
ReplyDeleteI absolutely love talking on the phone to my friends. You are right that the text/email/fb is great when you are busy or just need to send a quick message, but I need that one on one with my friends as much as I can.
I often wonder how kids growing up in this age of social networking will be able to effectively communicate once they become adults. Sigh...
Interesting. Will be back but I truly am busy right now:)
ReplyDeleteMy -soon to be hubby- is always telling me.... JUST CALL the person. So much is lost in translation with a text message. People often end up confused. I just love the simplicity of a text. There is a place for everything I assume!
ReplyDeletei agree and have been convicted of this recently. I think sometimes we even forget how to really 'talk'. I do think as moms it is hard when there is so much chaos in the background but there really isn't any excuse most days. I'd be lying if I said I had zero moments where I could go hide in the closet and actually 'call' someone. Great thoughts.
ReplyDeleteOMG REALLY! Im in tears! I won? I am so PMSing but I am also so happy. Thanks for making my day, heck my whole week. I need some mojo and you delivered baby, 110 percent. Thank you so much!
ReplyDeleteVery well said. This is so, so true and I am guilty also. I've been trying to "clean and talk"...two things that I want to do but never seem to have the time. Somehow multi-tasking makes it better? Easier? how pathetic does that sound lmao!
ReplyDeleteOh and congrats to the winners!!
ReplyDeleteI'm not much of a phone person - it stems back to childhoood resentment over all the time that my Mum spent on the phone (I'm talking HOURS). But I make lots of time for coffee and chats with those who are important. Face to face is even better than the phone.
ReplyDeleteHey girl. Reading this post again. I've actually put a great deal of thought into this today even after talking to you....just so you know:)
ReplyDeleteI think about this a lot, Amanda. I really worry about the real communications skills that the next generation will lose. I hate seeing teens hanging out together, all of them sitting their texting, ignoring each other. Convenience is great, but we are definitely losing something.
ReplyDeleteI have been know to disappear from all forms of communication because of the MOMs and the other crazy distractions. I much prefer face to face. :)
ReplyDeleteWe could go back to mailing letters to each other too :). I know an old lady who sits up at night reading old letters her husband wrote to her in WW2- he's gone now.
ReplyDeleteI'm with you Sister. I've heard stories of siblings sitting together in the back seat of a car and communicating to each other via texting.
ReplyDeleteValid points! I need to be better at catching up on the phone with friends... but I feel like I don't have an answer to "what's new with you". I just work, run, eat, sleep, sometimes do house renovating... Same stuff for 5 yrs now.
ReplyDeleteI used to feel awful about this with my grandma. She was the only person that regularly wanted to chat on the phone and often times it wasn't convenient timing and I {like a huge biotch} would sometimes ignore the calls and then tell myself to remember to call her back. Sometimes I'd remember and others I wouldn't. Then she got on facebook and taught herself to create two accounts, one for her "gaming" friends and the other for her family. We communicate a lot more now, ironically. When it wasn't emails and texts for me it used to be hand-written notes. Now I could get back into that too!
ReplyDeleteI LOVE talking on the phone. I would much prefer talking on the phone to people instead of texting or emailing. I don't have any phone friends anymore... everyone likes the other stuff more :(
ReplyDelete