Optimistically Cautious

Sunday, December 03, 2006

12 Steps

My name is Sharon and I am a text messaging addict.

On my last cell phone bill, the incoming and outgoing message count was well over four hundred. Thankfully, I had already switched to an unlimited text messaging flat fee a few months prior, which yes, I acknowledge does nothing to reduce my dependence on the service.

An article by Lisa Fitterman printed in the Edmonton Journal today spurned some self-reflection:

"What I hate most about texting, or text-messaging, is that those who indulge in it do not - indeed, cannot - give what is going on around them their undivided attention. Most of us aren't very good at multi-tasking - at speaking on the phone, for example, while reading and/or writing e-mails. So why should text-messaging in public be any different? The New York Times's Bob Morris once called the practice "just another public display of disaffection." And Kenneth J. Gergen, a psychology professor at Swarthmore College, has described the phenomenon as "absent presence," in which we're there but not there."

Yes, I'm guilty of the above offense. Though it would make sense to simply talk to those right in front of you, communicating inane, non-urgent matters to those not there eventually solidified into habit.

It may be the allure of a technological novelty, or an advantageous use to maintain contact with close friends, but for now, I don't think my text messaging has gotten in the way of my participation in group situations - yet (I sound like an addict, don't I?).

4 Comments:

Anonymous Anonymous said...

Telus only shows me the outgoing number of messages, not incoming (unless I was charged for them...only 15 of those). Anyway, my outgoing last month was 451. I would guess combined in+out would be around 1000.

I'm freaking amazing a multi-tasking, or so I like to think. I'm a proud text messaging "addict". It's an excellent tool and it makes my life easier, so I use it.

December 3, 2006 at 11:04 PM  
Blogger Sharon said...

Yes, I too love the convenience of being able to have conversations "on the fly." On the bus, in another city, at lunch, it's both a fast and inexpensive means to communicate.

I don't often integrate "new" technology so seamlessly, but I can't think how I'd go without text messaging now that it has become so ingrained in my daily life!

December 4, 2006 at 9:49 PM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

Not all of us have unlimited text messaging....
I'm glad I never look at my bill...

December 5, 2006 at 3:34 PM  
Blogger Sharon said...

Get unlimited text messaging!

December 5, 2006 at 8:56 PM  

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