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I’m probably a bit the other way in that I get frustrated with text messages going back and forth and back and forth when a one minute phone call will sort ever

I’m probably a bit the other way in that I get frustrated with text messages going back and forth and back and forth when a one minute phone call will sort everything out far more efficiently. Probably also has something to do with hating tapping away at tiny virtual keyboard on the phone, too. My teenage daughter seems very reluctant to make a phone call. Watching her try and organise something with her friends drives me a bit spare as it involves hours of waiting for poorly worded, ambiguous messages on Facebook or texts, with me suggesting several times, “Why don’t you just call them, and get it all figured out right now?” On the other hand, watching my Dad buy a new mobile phone is really fun. The salesperson is trying to up-sell him on all the features of a phone, “You have unlimited texts, and it has an app to make you taller, and…” and my Dad just keeps asking, “Yeah, but can it make phone calls?” I guess I fall somewhere in between. I do find, when there is a scene in a TV show or movie where someone’s phone keeps ringing incessantly and they keep cancelling it while trying to have the deep and meaningful conversation with someone wanting to yell, “Don’t you know how to turn your phone off?!” I do hate voicemail. Not so much leaving them, but having to check them. Probably because I hate any “interactive” system that involves sentences like, “To hear a list of all the ways technology has improved your life, please press one…” Unsolicited calls to mobiles is not a big thing in Australia (yet) so I’m lucky there. On the home line, I have an old analogue modem to pick up caller ID information for incoming phone calls using NCID[1]. When a call comes in: * Automatically pauses the music player on my PC. * Looks up the number in my address book, and displays the information on my screen. Also sends to the two Kodi/OSMC servers, for people watching TV. This assumes it is not on my block-list. If it is on my block-list of known scammer and telemarketer numbers then it as automatically answered with a recording of the “This number has been disconnected…” message to try and trick them. [1] http://ncid.sourceforge.net/ http://ncid.sourceforge.net/

eitland 9y ago
I love text. I don’t have to remember it or write it down - it's already written down. Also I have a feeling that a lot of the "have a meeting" guys are the same that will try to tell another version of what was said in the meeting. You aren’t sure even with text though - at some point I had an ex-colleague telling me what I had written, so I found the actual mail that proved my version. His answer: but that was not what you meant...
simonbarker87 9y ago
I agree, I really dislike the move to everything by text. Text has it’s place for communication (HN is a perfect example) however it is far easier to work through something even remotely complicated with voice instead of text. We speak much faster than we type, we can add inflexions and tone to convey meaning in a way that text can’t (although emoji help) and, most importantly, there are no typos when talking. My job requires interacting with lots of people, be it customers, suppliers, investors I can easily interact with 100 people a day who are not onsite and by mid afternoon I look forward to those I can deal with on the phone - even just for two minutes as it’s a break from typing. I often thank suppliers for calling when I answer as I know it’s a chance for some wider bandwidth communications that won’t require numerous back and forths.
- wildrhythms 9y ago
  I can understand being able to discuss a complex issue over voice, but can you explain how this is possible? > it is far easier to work through something even remotely complicated with voice instead of text I find that this is the exact opposite. Trying to explain an error message (or have an error explained to me), or providing numbers, a name, an address, etc. is always a nightmare on the telephone. "I'm sorry was that a 'e' or a 'z'?" "Was that a 9 or a 5?" Maybe it's just a bad phone connection where we can't hear each other properly. But even in the impossible crystal clear reception circumstances: "What are you seeing right now?" "Navigate to this address: http://<unnecessarily http://<unnecessarily long url> " "I talked to someone before and they said..." "Please hold" These are all limitations of the platform, or maybe limitations with how it's implemented. How exactly are you able to work through 'complex issues' better through a phone?
  - simonbarker87 9y ago
    I find that when typing the way to get through things quickly is to anticipate there responses and try to head them off in the initial email unless you want it to become and endless back and forth of one line emails and this is very hard to do. I speak much quicker than I type so (250-300 wpm vs 50-60) as do most people so the communication happens a faster. Finally, it is much easier to convey meaning and feelings g with tonality, non-word sounds (hmmmm, argh, a laugh etc) and then when negotiating tactical silences. I was trying to renegotiate our payment terms with a supplier last week and while I knew we couldn’t get what we really wanted (even though every other supplier gives us those payment terms) I felt we could get an improvement over the current deal. So I rang their financial director, he asked some clarifying questions to my request (that I couldn’t have easily anticipated being the o my ones he would ask) he said no, I hmmmm, reiterated the problem at our end and implied switching supplier at the end of the season, he hmmmm’d, tried to deflect and when it was my turn to talk I intentionally stayed silent, he waited a few seconds and then filled the awkward silence with an offer of different payment terms that are halfway to what I really want and much better than what we have. If this was done over email he would never of given us the new payment terms as the text medium is too limited for this kind of negotiation. Oh and when reading our letters just use the phonetic alphabet, much easier. I’m not saying the phone is perfect t for everything but it is an important part of our cumminication options and is bette than text is an number of sutuations that the OP and many other commenters are ignoring in tech’s need to not talk to people in real time.
staticautomatic 9y ago
The interminable nature of texting conversations drives me crazy.
mivanchev 9y ago
I'm always glad when someone calls and I always call people instead of typing down thoughts. Even better than calling is meeting someone IRL, but of course that's not always feasible. Then I usually begin by telling him or her how grateful I am that somebody is choosing the direct way over some form of texting and there are, sadly, far too many. Like your dad, I wouldn't buy anything not specially designed for transmitting voice in an analogue fashion. Too few options there, recently... Most of the people I communicate with are aware of this, thank goodness, but it's always hard to tell new acquaintances that I don't use Viber, Whatsapp, Facebook and even reluctant to use SMS.
- nicky0 9y ago
  I enjoy meeting people IRL but cannot stand the phone. Don't you find it inconvenient to be interrupted by the phone? Sometimes I'm in a bad mood or deep in thought and it's just not a good time for me to get into communication mode. Then there is always the awkwardness of ending the call. Talking on the phone effectively sucks a lot of my energy and causes anxiety afterwards. It's a non trivial event. I'd much rather see the person in person where we can communicate properly and with full attention and the time to properly do so. But some people seem to be able to effortlessly answer the phone and switch their train of thought to deal with whoever it is without skipping a beat. I envy that ability.
SerLava 9y ago
> “Why don’t you just call them, and get it all figured out right now?” Because it's rude. It has always been rude, but now with the phone in your pocket it's that much worse. She doesn't know what her friend isn't doing at the moment, and shouldn't impose. The featured article gives a better impression of this than I can... but I'll add that the tragedy of the commons is a factor. You can't just show up from outer space and scream out of someone's pocket whenever you want. This will hopefully be a fleeting technological phenomenon.
- jessriedel 9y ago
  Even if you subscribed to this bizarre principle that it's rude to call someone unannounced, you could always just ask by text.
  - SerLava 9y ago
    That's better but it's still kind of imposing. We are not socially wired to be compatible with the technology to magically steal people's attention from space.
    - jessriedel 9y ago
      If you don't want to be bothered, just turn off your ringer and notifications. Don't try to invent non-existent social norms. Part of the reason I have a phone is so people can reach me.
      - webkike 9y ago
        Sure, but now you see why it's easier to text: you might not be able to reach a person at that moment. That's why it takes your daughter and hour to organize things, because the people she's organizing with are busy for the hour.
      - nicky0 9y ago
        A lot of people have a smartphone in order to use mobile internet services and apps and would prefer not to be able to be called. Simply owning a phone is not an invitation to be called. You and your circle of contacts may love being called and that is fine for you but don't impose this "norm" on others.
draw_down 9y ago
God, typing on these things is the worst. And yes, it can take 45 minutes of texting to poorly approximate the amount of info that can be exchanged in a 1 minute voice conversation.
mrweasel 9y ago
I've moved to the "Just make a phone call" camp after hating phones for many years. I still don't really care for phones, but getting stuff done is often much quicker when you call someone. If given the choice I would drop Skype and other online calling services, they're still no where as reliable as telephones and always a hassle. My preferred communication means are: phone, email and everything else could disappear and I wouldn't care. Really, everything is just a poor implementation of the phone or email.
- Zak 9y ago
  > I would drop Skype and other online calling services, they're still no where as reliable as telephones and always a hassle. Counterpoint: I travel a lot, mostly between the US and Europe and use different SIM cards and therefore phone numbers in different places. Half the people I want to talk to at any given time would have to make an international call, and don't necessarily know where I am and which number to use. My Skype and Google Hangouts usernames don't change though. Even apps like Signal and Whatsapp that use a phone number as an identifier (which I HATE) continue working the same unless they need to be reinstalled. Sometimes I don't even get a local SIM card and those apps still work wherever there's a Wifi connection. There's probably some global roaming thing I could pay through the nose for, but it isn't important enough to me to be that easy to reach.

eitland 9y ago

I love text. I don’t have to remember it or write it down - it's already written down. Also I have a feeling that a lot of the "have a meeting" guys are the same that will try to tell another version of what was said in the meeting. You aren’t sure even with text though - at some point I had an ex-colleague telling me what I had written, so I found the actual mail that proved my version. His answer: but that was not what you meant...

simonbarker87 9y ago

I agree, I really dislike the move to everything by text. Text has it’s place for communication (HN is a perfect example) however it is far easier to work through something even remotely complicated with voice instead of text. We speak much faster than we type, we can add inflexions and tone to convey meaning in a way that text can’t (although emoji help) and, most importantly, there are no typos when talking. My job requires interacting with lots of people, be it customers, suppliers, investors I can easily interact with 100 people a day who are not onsite and by mid afternoon I look forward to those I can deal with on the phone - even just for two minutes as it’s a break from typing. I often thank suppliers for calling when I answer as I know it’s a chance for some wider bandwidth communications that won’t require numerous back and forths.

wildrhythms 9y ago
I can understand being able to discuss a complex issue over voice, but can you explain how this is possible? > it is far easier to work through something even remotely complicated with voice instead of text I find that this is the exact opposite. Trying to explain an error message (or have an error explained to me), or providing numbers, a name, an address, etc. is always a nightmare on the telephone. "I'm sorry was that a 'e' or a 'z'?" "Was that a 9 or a 5?" Maybe it's just a bad phone connection where we can't hear each other properly. But even in the impossible crystal clear reception circumstances: "What are you seeing right now?" "Navigate to this address: http://<unnecessarily http://<unnecessarily long url> " "I talked to someone before and they said..." "Please hold" These are all limitations of the platform, or maybe limitations with how it's implemented. How exactly are you able to work through 'complex issues' better through a phone?
- simonbarker87 9y ago
  I find that when typing the way to get through things quickly is to anticipate there responses and try to head them off in the initial email unless you want it to become and endless back and forth of one line emails and this is very hard to do. I speak much quicker than I type so (250-300 wpm vs 50-60) as do most people so the communication happens a faster. Finally, it is much easier to convey meaning and feelings g with tonality, non-word sounds (hmmmm, argh, a laugh etc) and then when negotiating tactical silences. I was trying to renegotiate our payment terms with a supplier last week and while I knew we couldn’t get what we really wanted (even though every other supplier gives us those payment terms) I felt we could get an improvement over the current deal. So I rang their financial director, he asked some clarifying questions to my request (that I couldn’t have easily anticipated being the o my ones he would ask) he said no, I hmmmm, reiterated the problem at our end and implied switching supplier at the end of the season, he hmmmm’d, tried to deflect and when it was my turn to talk I intentionally stayed silent, he waited a few seconds and then filled the awkward silence with an offer of different payment terms that are halfway to what I really want and much better than what we have. If this was done over email he would never of given us the new payment terms as the text medium is too limited for this kind of negotiation. Oh and when reading our letters just use the phonetic alphabet, much easier. I’m not saying the phone is perfect t for everything but it is an important part of our cumminication options and is bette than text is an number of sutuations that the OP and many other commenters are ignoring in tech’s need to not talk to people in real time.

staticautomatic 9y ago

The interminable nature of texting conversations drives me crazy.

mivanchev 9y ago

I'm always glad when someone calls and I always call people instead of typing down thoughts. Even better than calling is meeting someone IRL, but of course that's not always feasible. Then I usually begin by telling him or her how grateful I am that somebody is choosing the direct way over some form of texting and there are, sadly, far too many. Like your dad, I wouldn't buy anything not specially designed for transmitting voice in an analogue fashion. Too few options there, recently... Most of the people I communicate with are aware of this, thank goodness, but it's always hard to tell new acquaintances that I don't use Viber, Whatsapp, Facebook and even reluctant to use SMS.

nicky0 9y ago
I enjoy meeting people IRL but cannot stand the phone. Don't you find it inconvenient to be interrupted by the phone? Sometimes I'm in a bad mood or deep in thought and it's just not a good time for me to get into communication mode. Then there is always the awkwardness of ending the call. Talking on the phone effectively sucks a lot of my energy and causes anxiety afterwards. It's a non trivial event. I'd much rather see the person in person where we can communicate properly and with full attention and the time to properly do so. But some people seem to be able to effortlessly answer the phone and switch their train of thought to deal with whoever it is without skipping a beat. I envy that ability.

SerLava 9y ago

> “Why don’t you just call them, and get it all figured out right now?” Because it's rude. It has always been rude, but now with the phone in your pocket it's that much worse. She doesn't know what her friend isn't doing at the moment, and shouldn't impose. The featured article gives a better impression of this than I can... but I'll add that the tragedy of the commons is a factor. You can't just show up from outer space and scream out of someone's pocket whenever you want. This will hopefully be a fleeting technological phenomenon.

jessriedel 9y ago
Even if you subscribed to this bizarre principle that it's rude to call someone unannounced, you could always just ask by text.
- SerLava 9y ago
  That's better but it's still kind of imposing. We are not socially wired to be compatible with the technology to magically steal people's attention from space.
  - jessriedel 9y ago
    If you don't want to be bothered, just turn off your ringer and notifications. Don't try to invent non-existent social norms. Part of the reason I have a phone is so people can reach me.
    - webkike 9y ago
      Sure, but now you see why it's easier to text: you might not be able to reach a person at that moment. That's why it takes your daughter and hour to organize things, because the people she's organizing with are busy for the hour.
    - nicky0 9y ago
      A lot of people have a smartphone in order to use mobile internet services and apps and would prefer not to be able to be called. Simply owning a phone is not an invitation to be called. You and your circle of contacts may love being called and that is fine for you but don't impose this "norm" on others.

draw_down 9y ago

God, typing on these things is the worst. And yes, it can take 45 minutes of texting to poorly approximate the amount of info that can be exchanged in a 1 minute voice conversation.

mrweasel 9y ago

I've moved to the "Just make a phone call" camp after hating phones for many years. I still don't really care for phones, but getting stuff done is often much quicker when you call someone. If given the choice I would drop Skype and other online calling services, they're still no where as reliable as telephones and always a hassle. My preferred communication means are: phone, email and everything else could disappear and I wouldn't care. Really, everything is just a poor implementation of the phone or email.

Zak 9y ago
> I would drop Skype and other online calling services, they're still no where as reliable as telephones and always a hassle. Counterpoint: I travel a lot, mostly between the US and Europe and use different SIM cards and therefore phone numbers in different places. Half the people I want to talk to at any given time would have to make an international call, and don't necessarily know where I am and which number to use. My Skype and Google Hangouts usernames don't change though. Even apps like Signal and Whatsapp that use a phone number as an identifier (which I HATE) continue working the same unless they need to be reinstalled. Sometimes I don't even get a local SIM card and those apps still work wherever there's a Wifi connection. There's probably some global roaming thing I could pay through the nose for, but it isn't important enough to me to be that easy to reach.