Text vs. Voice

I was just thinking about this. Nowadays people talk all the time. We’re talking much more often and usually in contact with people for the majority of the day. For example: My best friend and I have recently started texting everyday. I’ll usually shoot him over something a few hours after I wake up (which he doesn’t respond to for a few hours because he’s lazy). We then text back and forth for most of the day and it usually ends in me saying goodnight (because I’m lazy and go to bed a few hours earlier than him). Lately we’ve been talking on the phone one night a week. This is always fun and cool. We’ll talk for an hour or two and then be done with phone calls for the week. As I was thinking about this, I contemplated how much more I value our talks on the phone. There aren’t as many gray areas where I’m left thinking, “Did he spell that wrong on purpose?” or, “Is he joking or not?”  Of course, you can’t spell wrong when you talk out loud (unless you’re spelling out loud…). But that’s beside the point. So much more emotion can be conveyed through your voice than the 160 characters of text messaging allow. I can quickly tell if someone is joking or not and I don’t have to decipher “LOL JSTN BBR ROX! WNT 2 GO 2 HIZ SHW?!”

In all of this madness I simply wonder if we are substituting the value of one long, meaningful conversation for the convenience of one-hundred shorter ones. I’m not saying there can’t be value in a short text that says something sweet. But I’m thinking that our relationships may be suffering because we want things to develop so fast.

I sometimes feel like because I keep him filled in on so much throughout my day, my best friend and I might not have as much to talk about. There may be more details I want to disclose but usually don’t because, hay, who wants to beat a dead horse? (no pun intended.)

Here’s a ridiculous comparison I put together. It’s simply an observation. There are so many facets to this debate that this can in no way sum up what’s really happening.

1,000 Text Messages = A Little Kid’s Sticky Ice-Cream-Hands

73 Facebook Comments = A Trip to a Skating Rink

14 Voice Calls = A Mythical Creature Speaking Your Name

Meeting and Talking In Person = Living on a Rainbow, Loving Life, Eating Candy, (Insert Whatever You Love here)

Just talk in person. If you can. Voice talkin’ comes in as the #2 option, obviously. Mythical creatures only come in second to rainbows today. It’s not like that always, trust me.

Cassi