SMS Speak

[GodsGrace]

i think we're media saturated, but sorely lacking in genuine connections. its society, its the economy, its...the whole culture. technology reflect that; technology also seems to fuel some it, as Runner pointed out.

We're afraid to really talk?

 

[GodsGrace]

Sometimes sms cuts back on words and things could be taken the wrong way if you don't know the person well.

It could also turn out to be a very lazy way of communicating if used all the time

Great point.

 

[dirtfarmer]

dirtfarmer here

I had a "smart phone" and found out that I was too dumb to use it. Phones should be used for instant conversations, not conversations over a period of time. It takes longer to "text" than it does to "voice" messages or conversations. Of course when you are of the "old generation" every thing was slower. We used to have pony express and that took weeks, then the U.S. postal service shortened that time, then the "phone" came along and wallah, almost instance messages. It depended if you were on a "party line" or "private line". Party lines let every one know you business immediately.

Enough rattling about yester-year. I don't think that I will ever "ketch-up".
dirtfarmer

 

[Milk-Drops]

OWO What's this?
Do you RP?

*Hops about looking for coffee*

 

[jasonc]

dirtfarmer here

I had a "smart phone" and found out that I was too dumb to use it. Phones should be used for instant conversations, not conversations over a period of time. It takes longer to "text" than it does to "voice" messages or conversations. Of course when you are of the "old generation" every thing was slower. We used to have pony express and that took weeks, then the U.S. postal service shortened that time, then the "phone" came along and wallah, almost instance messages. It depended if you were on a "party line" or "private line". Party lines let every one know you business immediately.

Enough rattling about yester-year. I don't think that I will ever "ketch-up".
dirtfarmer

bah, ship via the rail way express

 

[jasonc]

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Railway_Express_Agency

closed the same time that the above passenger station did along with all of the fec passenger service in 1975. the photo is a museum of local county history. it was moved to the current location from it original location. this current location was where they wanted to move this and it never happened.

 

[Nick]

We need to be careful of how technology controls us, for sure. Especially with young children.

Is SMS speak itself a problem? No. This kind of shorthand has been around since morse code, possibly longer. Language evolves, and the way we speak is different to how we write formally, and that's different again to how we text.

With the modern smartphone having quick text capabilities with a full QWERTY keyboard and the quick swipe method, the older ways of texting with the drawbacks for having to press the keys several times for a single letter, there's less need for the text-speak anyway.

 

[Runner]

We need to be careful of how technology controls us, for sure. Especially with young children.

Is SMS speak itself a problem? No. This kind of shorthand has been around since morse code, possibly longer. Language evolves, and the way we speak is different to how we write formally, and that's different again to how we text.

With the modern smartphone having quick text capabilities with a full QWERTY keyboard and the quick swipe method, the older ways of texting with the drawbacks for having to press the keys several times for a single letter, there's less need for the text-speak anyway.

I think if we view any of the technological "advances" in isolation and carefully parse them, it's easy to make a case that they are wonderful: A smart phone is a lifesaver when you are lost in the wilderness or your car breaks down in the middle of nowhere. Who could argue with that? No one. Ergo, smart phones are wonderful.

It's when you look at the technological "advances" as a whole that you start to see a different picture. The addictive nature. The reprogramming of brains, whereby people can think and communicate only in eight-word bursts. The destruction of social relationships, whereby 4,000 anonymous "friends" and "followers" substitute for real family and real friends. The ability to surround oneself 24 hours a day with people and information sources that think exactly like you do and reinforce all of your delusions and prejudices. And on and on.

If I could make these "advances" disappear overnight, I would cheerfully accept the risks of being lost in the wilderness or my car breaking down in the middle of nowhere, just as I did 50 years ago. But those who are in the grip of addictions and delusions - in this case, about 85% of the world - are seldom able to see the reality of what is happening to them.

I recently paid for my stepdaughter in Russia to spend two weeks with us in Arizona. Although she is 37, almost her entire visit was consumed with checking her smart phone and posing for photos to post on Facebook. I'm not sure she even realized she had actually visited Arizona. It was bizarre. It was like "documenting for people I don't even know that I have been in Arizona" was vastly more important than "enjoying my visit to Arizona."

It's tangential to this thread, but another example that occurred to me is the state of "music." Yes, every generation thinks the next generation's music is demonic. But I stayed current from the earliest days of rock 'n roll through the New Wave and Punk. I loved Buddy Holly but likewise Blondie, the Sex Pistols, the Clash and Nirvana. I was well-known as a veritable Rock Historian. When rap and its successors came along, however, it was as though someone had slammed a door in my face. "It's not that this is bad music," I thought, "It's simply not music. It's like a jackhammer assault on your brain. It revels in it's stupidity and obscenity. This is surely what music sounds like in Hell." Some 25 years later, i think the same thing. I am surrounded by neighbors who are enamored of this filth. I don't know what is going on inside their heads that they actually choose to purchase and listen to it incessantly, but I am convinced it's one more example of the supernatural evil that pervades our age.

 

[jasonc]

I guess since I take pictures often .I would focus on using my dlsr and photo nature,adobe homes,as my wife painted aND decorated our house in that style.it's from her influence in part that I love spanish revival homes in earth tones.

I have pointed out homes to her In that style here and afar

 

[jay55]

Texting is an "out of place" step in the progression of our communications (over a distance). One would think that our modes of such communication would improve and become more technologically advanced over time (eg. smoke signal -> pony express -> telegraph -> telephone etc). However, texting (typing letter by letter on a small 2" screen) is far less advanced than actually speaking to someone over the phone. Its actually more like the telegraph. Texting should have come first and then speaking over a phone (which is a much more advanced means of "real time" communication, and far more efficient). Mr Bell was clearly well ahead of his time.