I'm sure it's an old story. Boy texts girl. Girl texts boy. After a few exchanges, BOTH text poor unsuspecting mutual friend with the inevitable questions, "He said this, what does that mean?" "She's thinking that, what should I do?" and the inevitable, though sometimes implied, "Can you talk to them and see what they're thinking?"
Being in this situation as I type this blog post, I am acutely aware of the problems involved with written communication, while emoticons and emojis do make things much better, as noted by Alysha and Laycee, the nuances of human conversation, especially in a romantic setting, cannot be contained in :), :(, :'(, and (my personal favorite) :-}) (man with moustache.) And so it is that the parties, feeling the effects of such limits, go to the only way they can think of: ask ME!
Angry ranting aside, I think that this is yet another excellent example of why Socrates and Plato disliked writing. Human speech itself is an art form, with meaning far beyond the some parts of the words. The tone of voice, volume, body language, and facial expression, along with a myriad of other factors, convey a message that the written text simply can not. Nowhere are these shortcomings as painfully apparent as when your friends ask you to solve their romantic problems for them.
Love the phrase that human speech is an art form. It contrasts with the monotony of words on a screen with modified punctuation as our indicator of mood. I agree that we're missing out on a lot of sometimes awkward but always somehow rewarding personal (in person) interaction.
ReplyDeleteI also agree with the fact that speech and in person is so much more effective. I kind of think that you can be in the middle of a relationship not only through text, but in person as well, and still feel like the owl... but I think you're right in the fact that texting is an even worse "telephone" of passing on conversations to which you can't even completely understand because of the limits of texting emotion. :)
ReplyDeleteI completely agree. While texting is useful and allows us to be connected when we are not with those we love, i think it has over stepped its bounds and even (at times) taken the place of human interaction. Texting is almost another language, one must learn to understand what is meant over text, and unfortunately, there is a lot of miscommunication.
ReplyDeleteI completely agree. While texting is useful and allows us to be connected when we are not with those we love, i think it has over stepped its bounds and even (at times) taken the place of human interaction. Texting is almost another language, one must learn to understand what is meant over text, and unfortunately, there is a lot of miscommunication.
ReplyDelete