Our bishopric is still relatively new, and so this was a great opportunity to learn a bit more about Bro. Moon. He shared many stories from his lifetime, including the tale of how he and Sis. Moon met. He also offered what, I think, was some wise counsel.
"I'd counsel you to do away with your texting," he said - and I know he said that because I copied down his exact words.
But what's so bad about texting? you say? My entire social life revolves around it, and I would literally dehydrate, shrivel up, and die right before your eyes if I couldn't send and/or receive at least 75 texts every day.
Granted, I believe that texting is good for a few things. For example, when I have to send out a message to the members of my family or to my Improv troupe, it certainly saves a great deal of time to send a group text than to call them individually. It's also a good thing to have when you're, say, in a work meeting and can't pick up the phone to talk to somebody.
In any other kind of setting, however, I really don't see texting as more of a "Plan B" choice of communication. The problem, I think, lies in that so many people use it as a "Plan A," if you catch my drift.
I think this was what Bro. Moon was getting at when he said that texting was bad. And it has nothing at all to do with texting while driving, which is both incredibly stupid and dangerous. It has to do with the fact that, as a society, many of us are losing the ability to communicate on a one-on-one basis.
When he was courting his wife, Bro. Moon said - now I'm paraphrasing - he spent many anxious moments, between dropping her off from a date and picking up her for the next one, looking forward to the next time he would see her. These days, he said, that's not enough for people, who are already texting each other on the way home from dates and in other, less-formal settings. In this sense - and in others - texting becomes such an impersonal means of communication, and it sort of spoils the anticipation of seeing someone in person (gasp!) on a regular basis.
Not to mention the fact that, at least for me, it takes me about 10 times as long to type a text message as to say what I often need to say to people. After all, I don't have one of those phones with a fold-out keypad. It has an app for making and receiving phone calls and maybe one or two other minor things.
But that's how we've been trained to be now. We have our cell phones, Twitter, and Facebook and - yes, I realize I'm posting this message on a blog. Maybe that's why it's so hard for us to be honest with each other. . . . I dunno.
If people text me, I'll still reply to them. But I would still rather hear their voices on the phone.
2 comments:
This is an interesting post, I agree that too often we choose to use modern forms of shorthand communication. I also think that this can be the source of major miscommunications, because things such as tone are easily lost in using this form of communication. I agree that there are certain times when it is useful to have the option, but I would still like you much rather have the more human version of the message whenever possible.
I think that it's very easy to also say that as a whole our society has become far too dependent on technology in general. We allow it to do most of the work for us it seems. Since moving to London I have not had a cellphone (by choice) and it's been a nice experience in freedom, I had become so used to having one and being able to reach people that I will admit that at first it did feel as if I had lost an apendage, however it's now been 3 months and I haven't missed it at all.
Thanks, Marcey. What are you doing in London?
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