So I sit down to write this blog when…
Ring Ring…
What in the …???
Hello? What are you calling me on
my mobile for?? I don’t have time to
talk, I’m in the middle of blogging.
Just Facebook me and I’ll tweet the answer to you, or better yet, just google
it. Can’t talk now. Sheesh.
Why ring me?? I could have been in the middle of anything, except possibly
a very important business meeting – I haven’t been in one of those for a long
time. But it got me thinking – do people
really use mobile phones for talking
to each other anymore?
Mobile phones have become a part of our everyday lives –
some may even try to argue they are becoming a physical part of our bodies or our bodies are becoming technologically dependent (Richardson,
2008). So why do I feel a bit awkward
talking on one these days?
The genesis of the decline could hark back to the public transport
experience of 2004 when a lady found it completely natural to call her friend
while seated in a packed, non-air conditioned, commuter-hour tram and give a
very detailed, blow-by-blow account of her visit to the gynaecologist for a D
& C (google it – if you must). The
uncomfortable looks from the actual physical people in her presence went
completely unnoticed. However, I do
think all around her bonded in our distress of being an audience to this intimate
account. Hans Geser (2006) theorises
that we think of our mobile phones in emotional terms which can cause, among
other behaviours, irrational behaviour including displaying inappropriate
intimacy in public spaces. I know I
felt like I had to marry this lady after what I heard, but luckily, she got off
the tram before me.
Anyway, this is all leading me to the obvious decline in
actually calling people on your mobile phone.
Now we are so connected to all types of media via our mobile phones,
laptops and tablets that we have so much more to do on them! Teenagers
avoid calling friends and prefer to text, facebook and message. Surprisingly – so do adults! ( Turkle, 2011). Turkle explains that phone calls are now
often seen as too demanding in today’s time-poor, multitasking lifestyles, as
well as too demanding on the person called (remember me in my imagined
important meeting?) Instead we opt for
different social experiences that allow us time to consider what we want to
say, whether we should indeed say it and how we will be portrayed when we do
communicate it. I am still deciding how
I feel about this ‘edited life’ (Turkle, 2011), but I am certainly involved in
it, unwittingly or not.
It is a way to overcome the “complexities associated with
the practical aspects of dialogue” (Meerwath et al, 2009), that is, who
participates in the dialogue, the power and status of individuals involved,
opportunities taken or relinquished.
Now, we can take the necessary time to sort ourselves out, or at least
who we want to be at that time with that person, before we send out our message…
But do we really..?
While I ponder that, I am going to try this product and call
that person back and talk to them – so vintage cool…
(By the way – I know what you are thinking – mobile phones
don’t go Ring Ring anymore. Please tell me how to describe, in writing, a
modern phone ringing, onomatopoeiaically speaking!)
References
