Tuesday, September 29, 2015

Need a Texting Interpreter?

Need a Texting Interpreter?

Socrates was against the writing so much so that all of his recorded words were actually written by his assistant Plato. The problems with writing in those days are still seen today but in very different forms.



Texting – a brief message to convey thoughts or information. This could also be defined as – a confusing brief emotionless message that could deliver multiple meanings. This form of communication is great when you are delivering information but can be misunderstood when trying to convey personal messages.  For example a text may say, “we should take a break” (because I am tired and need to sleep) or “we should take a break” (as in I am breaking up with you). As you can see one sentence can have multiple meanings. These miscommunications can be avoided with the spoken word, YES that means calling someone. Taking in person is more effective because the proper message is delivered through voice intonation and body language.

Emoticons were made as a substitute for voice intonations. This works in some cases but not all the time. They work until… you get one that is crying and you wonder why your roommate is crying about the funny message you just sent. Then after asking someone you are told that the face is laughing, “What! Well that makes sense then” you think to yourself. Yes, this has happened to me on more than one occasion. So although Emoticons are fun and funny they are not a proper substitute for the spoken word.


Speaking in person decreases miscommunication because you can hear the speaker’s voice and see their facial expressions. These things can even be misinterpreted in lengthy essays and articles. Without voice an article may lose something that it had in the beginning. For these and many other reasons I agree with some of Socrates views on writing. What do you think? Was Socrates correct?

3 comments:

  1. I feel like what you are saying is that writing rather than speaking increases ambiguity. Obviously that can cause problems in situations where being clear and precise in critical. On the other hand, writing provides the opportunity of adjusting our message before it reaches the recipient, thus giving us the opportunity to say exactly what we mean by carefully choosing our words rather than spitting out the first response that comes to mind.

    ReplyDelete
  2. I'm glad you brought up emoticons. Although at times they can be confusing, they are much clearer than signs such as :p and :/ . I still have no idea what those mean.

    ReplyDelete
  3. I think it is so funny that all of this discussion is happening while we all write to each other. I could write about how much I loved this post, and then put at the end a :( at which point someone would be really confused. Even if I intended to be funny, I don't think it always comes across as such.

    ReplyDelete