One hundred forty characters. Do you, or a teen you know, measure your life in text messages? How do they shape us? Be brief, be wise. Go.
It assumes that the world can be captured and explained in sound bites, like a 30-second jingle.
—Marriah StarIt assumes dat d ppl u most nd 2 communicate w spk ur lngwij & have acces 2 d sAm teknoloG u do.
I feel gross now.
It assumes we want to be in constant communication with others, even if such communication is not so personal.
—Kevin SandersIt assumes that I can connect to whoever and whenever
—Eddy Eit assumes that what we say is more important than how we say it
—brianIt assumes that a wired world should connect every person on a second-by-second basis, almost like a Vulcan mind meld
—Marriah StarIt assumes that the world should be connected. It points to an equality in human relationships, where we can connect across culture, language, time and space.
—Eddy EIt facilitates the redefinition of news to encompass everything happening around us, and it allows everyone to report on everything. Thus, we all become observers and reporters of life.
—Marriah StarEspecially when messages are public (Twitter), it creates an instant zeitgeist (recognizing that the perspective is from a specific class).
—Charlie ParkAlso, it enables an awareness of details about friends’ lives that would normally be too mundane (or private) to report (ambient intimacy).
—Charlie ParkIt lets me leave for the airport when my visitor tells me the flight is arriving (as opposed to the scheduled arrival).
—Paul GrantImpressive dexterity with my fingers.
—Kevin SandersIt allows for conversation and connection to happen on my terms.
—Eddy Eallows for positive moments of conversation in a busy world when coupled with intentional deeper talk time. Great Tool!
—michael dragerIt enables me to communicate with groups of friends simultaneously (like when initiating hanging out time) and to communicate with people when I don’t know if they are available for a phone call and can reply at their leisure.
—Chris FrancisIt limits, or eliminates, a deeper understanding of the world by truncating and reducing language. Messages lose their content because the medium is so limited.
—Marriah StarIt can make it more difficult to keep boundaries and avoid the “urgent”—for those who don’t know when to turn off their cell phones.
—Kevin SandersDepth of community, friendship and connection. In effect it makes true friendship more difficult.
—Eddy ETxts make it very difficult to pay attention in class.
—Melissa PierreSaintPeople stop having conversations with each other. They simply become producers and consumers of fragments of information, with less ability to see the forest instead of the trees. It replaces thick culture (deep meaning, highly symbolic value) with thin culture (no meaning, low importance).
—Marriah StarIn the words of a friend: “I no longer have conversations – I have grammatical encounters.”
—Charlie ParkA culture of constant interaction. At it’s best, this invites us to realize that we are not islands and are created for relationships, at it’s worst, it cheapens and redefines how we relate with one another.
—Eddy ETwo answers ripped from the headlines this weekend: The Rocky Mountain News Twitters from a funeral for a 3-year-old (http://twitter.com/RMN_Berny) and investigators say that the engineer of a crashed commuter train may have been texting (http://www.nytimes.com/2008/09/15/us/15crash.html). Yikes.
—Andy Crouch