Go to any bar in any major city on a busy night, look around, and you'll see more hands on PDA's and cell phones than you'll see on cocktails.
It used to be that if you tried to talk to someone, you only had to compete with the other people in the bar for their attention. Now, you also have to compete with whoever that person is texting--and usually it's a few people.
We are having distracted bits and pieces of conversation via text to people who aren't with us, which of course makes us have distracted bits and pieces of conversation with the people who are. We all go about our lives now with one foot in the invisible realm of our e-social lives. Admit it, if you're out with a friend and they get up to go to the bathroom, the first thing you do is reach instinctively for your PDA/phone, when you used to just sit idly and people-watch. Because even when it's quiet, it never stops whispering at you from your pocket or your purse: "cheeeeck meeeee. I could be that person who blew you off, finally coming to my senses. I could be that work email you've been waiting for. I could be that invitation to something better than where you are now." It whispers, it calls to us, it is both our social wellspring and the black hole devouring The Now.
I am just as guilty of this as anyone; the vague "yeah's and uh-huhs" I give people sitting next to me as I try to finish off a text, the endless checking and re-checking for responses, all of it. So the challenge I level now is for myself as much as it is for everyone else: try existing for a night without your phone and see what happens. See how much more you focus on the taste of the wine, or the food, and the person you're sharing it with. See how much more likely you are to notice the smiling glance across the room, or listen to the story the old regular is telling his glass of whiskey. That phone or that PDA is all past and future tense, and no present. And if the present is the only thing that really exists and our texting habits are allowing us to disregard it, then doesn't that mean that we are ceasing to exist?
Texting (like email) on the other hand, is potentially more polite (as would be deliberately getting straight to someone's voicemail). It says "I have a message for you, but read it at your convenience".
Text is a godsend for those who (like me) like the asynchronous idea of email but hate that it shackles people to a desk.
Text is also near free on most plans whereas actually calling someone costs real money (or minutes).
So texting is good. The problem is that
- people expect it to be immediate, and hence set alert tones and hold conversations with it (which is daft). These people are basically using it as IM. Being in the presence of someone like this is like having a meeting with someone in their office and they keep turning to their PC to use IM
- people seem to enjoy it for it's own sake (bizarrely).
The scenario in the article is not about texting really. I'm sure people make voice calls when the other person goes to the bathroom too.
It is about not being 100% present with the person you are with.
Thanks for the inspiration, Mr. Carter. Next time, I’m taking my parenthesis-faced friends and their stunted grammar off the table, for a chance at that whispered smile from the across the room. Just like the old days.
but seriously folks, i just read all the comments before me and while the author makes a valid point, i think we have to face reality as well. communications technology will always continue to develop, grow, and change, and it will always change society along with it. it's not that texting shouldn't be questioned; i'm simply arguing that the same article could be written about email 15 years ago, online bulleting boards 25 years ago, the telephone 75 or so years ago, and so on.
i applaud those who have made the decision to resist what they consider odious overuse of cell phones and/or texting, and i consider myself somewhat of a neo-luddite (although i do use both of the above). but new technologies change the way we interact, and until the drive to create new technology ends, these changes will keep happening.
as for the complaints about "the younger generation," of course they have embraced the new technologies. again, as frustrating as it is (and i teach college and have had to shut down would-be texters myself, so i understand the frustrating), we do have to accept the reality that most people, especially younger people, are attracted to the convenience of cell phones and texting. all we can do is politely ask others to refrain from prioritizing people they are contacting electronically over people they are physically with, if it is bothering them.
my point is simply that it is not texting that is the issue. your concerns (safety on the road and poor service) are based on people distracting themselves with a new technology. this is part of the evolution of technology in general. we can't change that evolution. in a few years new distractions will appear. but they will also have new positive results. this is always the way new technologies work.
should we blame texting, an anonymous subset of the population who use it poorly, or just accept that this technology exists now, along with people who use it wisely, and people who don't? the latter seems to be the option that causes the least frustration. some people will always drive dangerously, and some people will always be rude. i don't think that texting made them that way.
https://www.donotcall.gov/default.aspx
There's a time and place for everything, and nothing bugs me more than being out with a friend who takes a non-emergency phone call. Texting's the same deal--no one is THAT important that they can't put their electronic devices away for a dinner or a rehearsal or a class.
All the current technological advances unfortunately give everone an excuse to be distracted and rude.
AT A PARTY!
I was surprised.
It seemed dumb to me, for sure, but hey, someone no doubt texted him and next thing you know, he's busy.
whatever.
No cell, no computer...no landline, or anything. I think I would like that....but meanwhile I'm glued.
I'm still glued to the internet (including Twitter), but that's because I can't function in large crowds of live people; being surrounded by strangers is exhausting. I guess the tweet-stream (or, previously, multiple IRC chat windows) functions for me as crowds do for the non-recluse - a warm bath of human interaction into which I can plunge whenever I'm ready.
Sounds like something that kids use because they have the time but I really doubt if you would find many CEO's etc out there that do.
I mean, why not call someone on the phone for pete sakes?