So I’ve always been and would say i still am very much passionate about in person talks. Nothing beats the experience of listening to a persons word in their voice, with their expressions. But i am here to talk about something else. I see a a lot of people criticizing the use of texting and other forms of digital communication. People say that digital mediums of communication are taking us away from the real world, into a world of its own. And sometimes i am just not sure what’s wrong with that.
The very foundation for this ideology stems from the branches that probably cross pollinated. I have a couple of friends who are against the idea of leisure texting. They say that people often turn out extremely different from what they appeared in chats. That you cannot judge someone from just chats.
I say, you can judge and know a person only from their chats. Now that I’ve stated my point. Let me begin justifying it.
Think about the times when you indulge yourself in leisure texting. You text friends or new people you meet on WhatsApp, Instagram or whatever it is that you use because of the following reasons.
It is important to note that texting is not a primary task. No matter how important the subject is. Texting is always done in parallel to other tasks that you are doing. Most of the people i know text while they are either working on something,doing study related stuff or doing their chores or something similar. You don’t take time out of your life to text. Texting is an asynchronous behavior. You text whenever you get the time. Example, While having food.
Also, you don’t text your friends or your crush when you are busy. Because you are working with whats keeping you busy. You text most people when you are not doing anything serious and have all the time to be funny, nice and considerate. Now, when we talk about people’s sudden change in behavior when you see them, it is a direct result of the completely opposite situations in front of them.
Imagine someone who cracks the best of jokes, says the sweetest of things while texting you late at night. Next morning you meet them in office or school/college they don’t even talk properly. They aren’t psychotic. The situation is such that they can’t behave the way they were last night. Your entire texting action that lasted an hour last night could be summed up in less than a couple of minutes. Reason ? You were doing multiple things last night when you were totally not doing anything important. Right now, the boss/teacher is a factor limiting the time you can talk to anyone.
Also, if they do come and talk to you, you both will now be doing one thing in sync. The talking, you probably won’t be doing anything other than giving 100% of your concentration to each other since the person is right in front of you. There is no time to frame jokes, no time to think about what words to choose. So this makes the other person appear boring to you. And i am pretty sure they think the same about you. But you go home again in the evening and text them.
Think about this. You have 24 hours in a day. How many people can you possibly talk to in that period.
Considering sometimes it is just not geographically feasible. Texting is always the answer(after Jesus i mean). Why is texting frowned upon so much. Nobody said stuff about phone calls when they replaced handwritten letters. I feel that today you can talk to 10 different people on social media platforms. That is a lot better than not talking to anyone at all, considering the situational factors I’ve mentioned before.
Lastly people tend to open up about personal issues more in texts than real life. They share their views more openly because somewhere behind that screen they feel safe from the outer world. There are 100 things you cannot tell even the dearest ones in person. Texting takes you insecurities and awkwardness away. People’s personalities are a lot more clear with their texts. So what better than texting when trying to know a person.
That’s all i wanted to say. I could possibly be making a fool of myself in front of the entire internet but this is what I have been feeling lately. Also, do let me know what you think about this in the comment section below.
