Task 6: April 6-12: Text-messaging

Dear All,

how are you? I'm sharing with you the task for the coming week. It's devoted to the discussion of some of the features of today's communication, in particular, to the comparison between text and voice messaging. You should first read the article below, read the questions that follow and share your answers to three of them you found the most interesting. Then you need to write an essay in which you should discuss the Pros and Cons of Voice and Text Messaging. 

Text Messages Are Too Many?

Voice mail gets mixed reviews from people who prefer to text. Related ArticleCredit...Byron Smith for The New York Times

By Shannon Doyne

Consider a text message–or voice mail or email–just to say “thank you” to the recipient

for something he or she has done.

Do you think this is a nice gesture? Or an annoyance?

The Bits blog post “Disruptions: Digital Era Redefining Etiquette” addresses the evolution of

the often unspoken “rules” for communicating. Nick Bilton writes:

Then there is voice mail, another impolite way of trying to connect with someone. Think of how long it

takes to access your voice mail and listen to one of those long-winded messages. “Hi, this is so-and-so….”

In text messages, you don’t have to declare who you are, or even say hello. E-mail, too, leaves something

to be desired, with subject lines and “hi” and “bye,” because the communication could happen faster by text.

And then there are the worst offenders of all: those who leave a voice mail message and then e-mail to

tell you they left a voice mail message.

My father learned this lesson last year after leaving me a dozen voice mail messages, none of which I

listened to. Exasperated, he called my sister to complain that I never returned his calls. “Why are you

leaving him voice mails?” my sister asked. “No one listens to voice mail anymore. Just text him.”

My mother realized this long ago. Now we communicate mostly through Twitter.… In the age of the smartphone, there is no reason to ask once-acceptable questions: the weather forecast, a business phone number, a store’s hours. But some people still do. And when you answer them, they respond with a thank-you e-mail.

“I have decreasing amounts of tolerance for unnecessary communication because it is a burden and a cost,” said Baratunde Thurston, co-founder of Cultivated Wit, a comedic creative company. “It’s almost too easy to not think before we express ourselves because expression is so cheap, yet it often costs the receiver more.”

… How to handle these differing standards? Easy: think of your audience. Some people, especially older ones, appreciate a thank-you message. Others, like me, want no reply. “It is important to think about who the relationship is with,” Mr. Senning said.

The anthropologist Margaret Mead once said that in traditional societies, the young learn from the old. But in modern societies, the old can also learn from the young. Here’s hoping that politeness never goes out of fashion, but that time-wasting forms of communication do.

Tell us …

• Do you use voice mail? Why or why not?
• Do you think people should just use the Internet to find answers to “once-acceptable questions” instead of asking someone?
• How often do you worry that contacting someone via text, call, Twitter, Facebook or voice mail is the “wrong” approach?
• What about the advice to consider what each people expects, such as older people appreciating a thank-you message? Do you have any suggestions or rules of thumb for managing others’ expectations?
• Have you ever been offended–or have you ever offended someone–because of communicating in a way that was perceived to be burdensome? Explain.
• What are your suggestions for resolving these issues?

I'm asking you to publish your essay draft in your blogs by April 9 and read smb else's essay draft by April 11. You need to comment on the essay draft of one of your peers by answering the following questions:

a) Is the essay interesting to read?
b) Is it logical?
c) What has it made you think about?
d) Is your experience is similar to that one of your peers shared with us in her/his essay?
e) Is there anything your peer can add to her/work to make it more persuasive?
f) Is there anything that needs to be revised:
-Content
-Organisation
-Mechanics
-Language