export_ofoct.com
[00:00.39] The telephone was an amazing invention. People could finally speak to each other instantly from one home to another.
[00:09.16] The mobile phone took this technology further, meaning we could make contact with people to and from almost anywhere in the world.
[00:17.92] But despite having the instant ability to talk to one another, it seems many of us prefer to communicate by text.
[00:26.16] I don’t mean we have taken up letter writing again. Although a handwritten letter has a personal touch, sending it by snail mail is too slow to satisfy our desire to keep in touch immediately.
[00:41.56] But what our smartphones now allow us to do is enable us to communicate in any number of quick, cheap but silent ways.
[00:50.86] A study in the UK a few years ago found 49 per cent of teenagers preferred to send a text rather than speak to someone.
[00:59.62] Certainly sending an SMS, text or message via a chat app means we can compose what we want to say, and we can be more efficient in saying it – especially if we express ourselves by using emojis.
[01:15.03] It can also be quicker than having to chat with someone, although I feel you can still end up wasting time by having a full discussion by text!
[01:25.92] Text messaging also allows privacy – other people can’t overhear your text if you’re in a public place such as on a train.
[01:35.48] But texting instead of talking can seem antisocial; we may even forget the art of pleasantries.
[01:43.19] A text can be misinterpreted too because you miss out on a speaker’s intonation.
[01:49.83] Neuroscientist Professor Sophie Scott told the BBC: “We always speak with melody and intonation to our voice…
[01:57.79] you take that channel of information out of communication, you lose another way that sense is being conveyed.”
[02:06.03] Of course texting and talking is the worst thing to do.
[02:10.28] Who deserves your attention when two people are communicating with you?
[02:14.53] It’s then we have to decide who has the most interesting thing to say!
