Text Messaging Featured Article

It doesn’t take a lot of effort to connect with complete strangers across the globe, thanks to the Internet. Decades ago, we used to have pen pal swap programs to find people in different parts of the world and relied heavily on the written letter to engage in conversation. We even did this with distant family members; yearly holiday letters were sent out en masse, or perhaps we sent cards to our great Aunt Beatrice who lived three states away.

Nowadays, all we have to do is log onto social media and interact with blog commenters or social groups, and the United States Postal Service is finding that their jobs are more about delivering junk mail and circulars and less about written letters to distant family members. The same fate is happening to the phone call, and we have the smartphone to thank for this.

Before the proliferation of mobile devices with full QWERTY keyboards, we had flip phones with basic T9 function; sending a text message was more hassle than it was worth, so the natural thing to do to get answer out of someone was to start dialing their digits and engage in a quick phone call. Similarly, many of us remember a time of using our wired landlines to call relatives, all the while keeping an eye on the minutes, as long distance plans were not exactly cheap. While we’ve seen cheaper bills and more efficient means of communications, the human element of engagement seems to be lost.

It’s a societal norm and a sign of the times; in Australia, phone conversations were 3.9 percent less in 2013 than the previous year.

Sure, it’s easier to send a quick text. The recipient can read it now, but respond later, and it saves you the hassle of having to leave a voicemail. What is it about voice communications that have us completely turned off from actually engaging with each other?

For one, it’s easier to type a message than to actually have an emotional dialog with someone else.

"If one feels completely swamped by this deluge of messages and information, then the ability to listen is something that we ration and save for those absolutely important and essential relationships," said Dr. Richard Graham (News - Alert), a psychiatrist who specializes in technology at Capio Nightingale Hospital, according to WAtoday.com.au. "If someone's having a difficult time, you think, 'Have I got time to listen and feel concerned in a way you think you ought, when there's much more to do?’”

The number of text messages sent monthly in the U.S. increased from 14 billion in 2000 to 188 billion in 2010, according to a Pew (News - Alert) Institute survey, and the trend shows no signs of slowing down. Not all of that growth has come out of the hide of old-fashioned phoning, but it is clearly taking a bite — particularly among the younger generation.

There are other reasons why texting is now the preferred method of communication; it’s private, so no one else can overhear your conversation, it’s permanent and “in writing,” people texting can better prepare their responses instead of answering on the fly, and it is less intrusive than the phone call.

There are a lot of reasons people text each other, and just as many why they chose to talk instead. For some, it comes down to a matter of professionalism instead of preference. What can we expect to see a few years from now? Perhaps more messaging options and fewer phone calls, and yes, even fewer letters written than last year. We’re all doing fine in the communicating department, that much is true, but to what end will the human element be gone altogether?