Because football, thankfully enough, has a shit ton of breaks between plays. It’s the perfect sport to text through.
Also the diminution is worth it if the second activity offers more utility than the loss of utility by not fully focusing on the football game. Why you can’t add more and more to the list is because at some point the added utility of an additional activity does not offer enough counterbalance for the additional loss of utility by focusing even less on the game. There is, in effect, a diminishing return on split focus. Two things can be balanced just perfectly.
I have nothing against texting. What is sad when two people are physically close but mentally far, far apart. And it is better than the days when both would be on their phones and talking and annoying everyone else.
I guess I’m so old that when I have dinner with my wife I like to actually have dinner with her, not someone at the other end of the text.
She may not have been texting - she may have been emailing. I handle a lot of work emails and texts while I’m with my kids - things that need a fairly quick response and it’s hard to do over the phone with a kid there. So I’m not totally scandalised, nope.
Certainly accepted and appreciated. Also understandable, in that wall of text I can see how it could have been mistaken. My outburst in response was, once again unacceptable and please accept my apologies.
I also understand you displeasure with those texting while driving. Truth be told, even using a hands free cell phone has been proven to be a considerable distraction and I should limit the use whenever I can.
Although Lumpy’s point is very valid, I remember laughing about the joke which basically said…
" A young person once had a great idea for texting. It was a voice recording and transmission system where you could speak into the phone, it would convert it to text and then the receiving party could, instead of reading your text, push a button and hear a digital voice reproduction of your text. Then, instead of typing a response, they could talk into the phone and it would send a text back that could also be digitally read out loud. You could even customize it so the digital voice sounded like you. They called it XXVOICINGXX and Facebook bought it for 10 billion."
Jokes aside, if the texting is happening immediately, back and forth, I agree with Lumpy. But, I have been known to have “long” conversations that are detailed with my wife (or now my mom who is 80) over an entire day. So, it may be 20-30 texts exchanged on a larger topic, but over 8-12 hours. So, honestly, in a time when we may have limited opportunities for a long chat in one place or time, we have time for a quick response every hour or so in the same chain, thereby having a long exchange of information.
Folks, IMHO and with respect, it is just a new form of communication. One which is shorter (i.e. blip culture) and can be done quickly and conveniently.
It has downsides (distracted drivers, people walking into fountains while texting in the mall, young people standing right next to each other texting vigorously- not experiencing that companionship, young men/women in a bar texting friends while around other young people all of them talking about how lame everyone else is for texting, and people conducting/sharing intimate business- like a break up- over a disconnected form of communication)
But, it has upsides. Fast communication, sharing between friends, experiencing moments (my mom face times at the age of 70 with the 7 year old niece constantly even for little things like “let me show you my collection of stuffed animals”) , staying close, giving support, feeling connected and a myriad of other things.
Just like any technological advance in communication there are costs and incredible benefits. If you have never been to DisneyWorld you will not understand this next statement, BUT, consider the ride ‘This Spaceship Earth’. You learn that pretty much the most important thing that differentiates us from a lot of species is communication. It defines our culture and those who do not embrace advancements are doomed to be shaking their angry fist at a cloud and calling out random condemnations against “those kids these days”.
Count me as another one who can’t see the horror of holding a baby one-handed and doing something else (carrying a bag, stacking dishes, making dinner, writing a shopping list, even God forbid texting) with the other hand. I’ve spent much of the past few years doing exactly that. It’s standard practice for anyone with a baby.
Texting while crossing a car park is a stupid thing to do.
I think it depends on the messaging app. I’m using just the basic messaging (NOT message+) app on my samsung galaxy s5 and it clearly tells me how many characters and messages I’m using as I type it. After I send it, it just shows up as one text in the thread.
I have texted people who are sitting beside me. Or in the same room. One friend, it annoyed the bejeebers out of him, so naturally I had too. But also it allows for privacy. You can carry on a conversation without everyone and their cousin being involved in it.
I agree with you, but really it’s no skin off either of our noses, so why be judgmental? Anyway, while the sort of texting situations you and I might frown on certainly do occur, keep in mind that there could well be explanations that would make sense:
[ul]
[li]The deaf kid at my son’s school communicates with his hearing friends via text when his interpreter isn’t with him.[/li][li]Maybe they are sharing data - perhaps they just realized they have a mutual friend and one of them doesn’t have that friend’s contact information, so the other one is sending it.[/li][*]Maybe they are playing a game together, or seeing who has the best Googlefu to look something up that they were just talking about.[/ul]
This thread cracks me up. Voyager, you are assuming that people texting while sitting together is completely unrelated to the fact that they are sitting together.
“Let’s text Madison and tell her we wish she was here at dinner with us!”
“We need to arrange for the other 2 to meet us here - you text Laura, I’ll text Mike.”
“Shit. Sorry, it’s my boss. Do you mind if I respond?” “No, that’s fine - I need to confirm an appointment, so good timing.”
And, btw, the way 13yo’s use their phones is completely beyond “texting while together” - the phones (and thw connections at the other end) are part and parcel of their social lives and it is a vastly far more involved experience than what you’re describing.
Not to speak for Voyager but I think the disconnect comes for those of us who don’t text (or text very often) and we don’t consider that the scene we see being played out is perfectly okay with all the participants. I believe you call that “projection” , i.e, when I see a girl (or guy) just sitting there staring into space because the person they’re with is futzing with their phone, my first thought is “if that was me, I would leave” and then I’m unreasonably angry with a total stranger, without stopping to think that if she didn’t like it she would have told him so :smack: It’s very hard to relate to when it’s not something you yourself indulge in. I’m working on it though.
I agree with you, but really it’s no skin off either of our noses, so why be judgmental? Anyway, while the sort of texting situations you and I might frown on certainly do occur, keep in mind that there could well be explanations that would make sense:
[ul]
[li]The deaf kid at my son’s school communicates with his hearing friends via text when his interpreter isn’t with him.[/li][li]Maybe they are sharing data - perhaps they just realized they have a mutual friend and one of them doesn’t have that friend’s contact information, so the other one is sending it.[/li][li]Maybe they are playing a game together, or seeing who has the best Googlefu to look something up that they were just talking about.[/ul][/li][/QUOTE]
Talking and texting is one thing. Here’s the answer to that question from Google (showing the phone to the other person) is cool also. The cases I’m talking about are two people deep into their phones and not interacting at all.
Not the biggest problem in the world, no. But it is kind of like having dinner together - not absolutely essential, but it helps build a better family and better society.
One of the really good things about texts is that you can ignore them if they are not about some emergency. Just like email.
About 20 years ago I was driving on 101 from Santa Barbara headed north when I got a call about a job. Back then hand held cellphones were legal, so I had a nice conversation about it. When I hung up I was somewhere around San Luis Obispo, and had no recollection of the road I had been driving on. That’s when I gave up using cellphones when driving. I’ve avoided many accidents in the past 20 years by being alert.
But the real idiots I see these days seem to be texting not talking.
I don’t see that many cases of one party texting and the other isolated, so maybe the excluded party does tend to speak up.
When I got married I wondered how we’d ever find enough to talk about 10 years later. 37 years later it has turned out not to be a problem. Maybe dual texters don’t have anything to talk about. Not my problem, but it seems a shame.
I’ve been doing the primitive version of texting called instant messaging since 1975 (term-talk on PLATO.) Texting is a good thing - I communicate with my kids that way often. But like Groucho, though I love my cigar I take it out of my mouth sometimes.