Tag Archives: technology

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WYD

I hate one word text messages. They seem to be so impersonal and they don’t serve a real purpose unless it is to end a text conversation. In the world we live in, effective communication is a lost art. People are afraid to express their real concerns or questions because they don’t want to be seen as too needy or nosy. The truth is that often texting becomes a substitute for a real conversation. I remember seeing a meme somewhere stating that you can’t get to know someone by only saying “hey” and “wyd.” Of all the text messages I get, those two annoy me the most. It speaks to a depth of laziness that is unmatched.  I feel so unmotivated to continue the conversation after that. It means that I am going to have to carry all of the intellectual weight of the conversation if I want it to be something substantial. Both of these text messages require me to text something that will continue the conversation and sometimes (actually most of the time), I don’t want that responsibility. I don’t want to answer a one word greeting with a trite question that ends in some cliche’ saying like “I’m fine,” or  “I’m good.” It sets the tone for meaningless small talk that doesn’t serve any specific purpose. There’s this individual who has been randomly reaching out to me via text for the past 7 or 8 months. But never once has this person actually taken the time to actually call me. Which means that responding to endless text messages without an end in sight is an absolute waste of time.  Whatever happened to purposeful communication with meaningful dialogue? It’s a lost art. There’s nothing like a good conversation about thoughts, dreams, and values. All that rich information is lost with the amount of “hey’s” and “wyd’s” that is thrown out there into the world. It’s really a shame.

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Phone time 

One thing that I’ve heard in a lot of conversations recently (outside of the election) is the lack of quality conversations and interactions because everyone is on their phone. From the young to the old, it’s not uncommon to see people in restaurants texting away or checking social media but not talking to each other. It’s like no one wants to actually talk face to face and develop conversation skills. I’ve been on several dates in the last few weeks and I have to say that there are few things as rude as stopping mid-sentence and pulling out your phone. If I’m paying attention to you I don’t want to be sitting quietly while you scroll through your phone. Now, in no way am I saying that I’m not attached to my phone because that wouldn’t be the case. It’s almost like a security object. However, there are times when I know to put it away and have an actual conversation. It would be nice to see that happen just a bit more. 

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Technological Laughs

With the coming of the Iphone 6 and also the Apple watch, I came across a satirical article that made me laugh slightly. The article focused on the Apple watch and some of it’s features. However these features were incredibly hilarious and they included starting and stopping the flow of time, discreet but not so discreet that other’s can’t see you’re wearing an expensive watch, and making it easier for muggers to tell if your watch is expensive. As someone who likes technology, it’s always interesting to me how easy it is to get very attached to our devices. A few years ago my cell phone was stolen. It was somewhat of a traumatic experience because I quickly found that I was more attached to the phone than I had originally thought. One thing that was especially sad for me was the fact that I had a 32gb memory card inside the phone that was not backed up. As a result, I lost over a thousand songs and pictures I had accumulated over the past four years. Sad day. However it was a reminder that while technology has made our lives easier, there’s still nothing like the human connection and face to face personal contact instead of text messages or emails.