Imagine being on a date at a fancy restaurant with someone that you hardly know, but seem quite fond of so far. The conversation is going well and you seem to share some interests and are having fun learning about the other. Your date then pulls out their cell phone to respond to a text message. As this dream date clicks away, it creates an awkward feeling and a silence that generates uneasiness. Have you even been on a date with a texter? Have you even been the texter on the date? The article that I read for this week talked about how Computer Mediated Communication, especially text messaging and instant messager, is sometimes a third wheel in some relationships. Me and my friends always nicknamed the person that could not stop texting in any situation the Tammy Texter of the group.
It told some stories of the rocky times that couples had when the ways that they liked to communicate differed. It seemed that most of the males in the relationships preferred less personal ways of interacting such as texting and IMing. The females on the other hand, found that talking on the phone was a better and more personal way to communicate. Both male and female though, found that the best way for them to communicate was face to face.
It also talked about ending relationships via texting and IMing. I think that this is a very frowned upon thing to do after graduation of middle school but apparently some people still do it. Although breaking up with someone is never a great experience, it is general knowledge that you should be respectful and do it in person. I think county super stat Taylor Swift would agree with me on this one after being recently dumped by Jonas Brother in a twenty seven second phone conversation. No one likes being dumped, but come on; there are some better ways to go about this one.
Since there is no real written technology etiquette as there is for table manners and etiquette, another section in the article dealt with proper texting etiquette. I think that the general consensus on the first one; No texting on a date, would be frowned upon by most people. The second rule is to use texting only for sweet nothings. This is sweet and all but I would say that texting is certainly useful in many other circumstances. For instance, “what time will you be here?” or “when is it okay to call you?” The last rule is that serious matters and breakups should only be addressed via phone conversation and in person. Thank you MSNBC for those rules. I think anyone who reads this that did not have common sense or respect for others will really benefit from these rules.
2 comments:
I think this article and your blog proves how much people use cell phones and text messaging to avoid situations. If someone is unconformable on a date or doesn’t want to break up in person they use their cell phone as a tool of avoidance. It’s funny that the Taylor Swift story come out too because this shows it is everyone that’s doing this, even famous people.
It is true that people do use text messaging to avoid awkward conversation or situations. It would be easy to send a text breaking up with someone because then the other person does not have to be concerend with questions or hear crying, things like that. I know when my boyfriend and I argue, he turns it into a texting fight. I do not believe that texting is the appropriate way to handel these situations.
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