So I took a moment yesterday and examined the progression of social communication in my lifetime...It started with getting "The Number". During these years (Middle School - High School) all you had was a land line i.e. house phone. House phone meant that you weren't lingering on the phone for extended periods of time b/c your parents had important "grown folks business" to handle...that is, until the late night hour. We all have held conversations on the phone hoping that one of the two things did NOT happen 1) You hear a faint knock on your door (in my case, it was Mom hatin') tellin you to "Get Off That Phone & Go To Bed" 2) Or the worse option of someone (Mom was still hatin in this deparment) gettin ONTO the phone and askin asking "Who are you talkin to on MY phone this late? Parents get possesive & shit when you make them upset. Sidnote: To every individual who talked so much their parents gave them their OWN line, the epitome of "cool" before you had your own whip, I salute you.
Next, it was AOL Instant Messanger or AIM (High School - College). The crack like addiction to AIM should have been an omen for what text messaging would become. After riding home sweaty & geeked from a "wild" night at the local teen club (hilarious), you'd sign on to AIM which sorta became an afterparty in itself. You know, teenagers doing what they do best, tryna cut something (don't front, its true). Even in my formidable years, I realized the power in words and written game is so much more tangible. I won't even incriminate myself and discuss the benefits of picture sharing & AIM. *Computer Love playing softly in the background* Cellular phones COMPLETELY altered the way the game is played. Sadly, I did not have one before I graduated from high school (Mom was a habitual hater) but my best friend did...And his # was my # when it was necessary. This was the best way to pump fake the parents into thinking you were one place and using the celly to make arrangements so you could go slam dunk something. YOOOUUUU-A! (c) The Dream. And when you became bored of actually talking on your cell phone, then you had thumb fuckin or text sex.
It's evident now though that pseudo talking i.e. texting is the preferred method of communcation. I don't know why it came as such a surprise initially. I mean, everyone wrote notes in their youth. Numerous people find comfort in being able to share thoughts w/o truly (by that I mean audibly) voicing their opinion. The convenience of the text message is undeniable. Don't want to talk, text. Out with the homies but you'd rather be with someone else, text. Out with the homies and you want to make sure you're with someone at the end of the night [AY! (c) Juiceman], text. I will say that there needs to be some text etiquette that comes with every phone (extra rules if you have a QWERTY keyboard) although I won't get into them all on this post. Remember, safe text is great text. Also, in case you didn't know, Bitches love smiley faces (c) Ed Wuncler (The Boondocks). Emoticons, ya know this shit --> :-) :-( ;-P
Next, it was AOL Instant Messanger or AIM (High School - College). The crack like addiction to AIM should have been an omen for what text messaging would become. After riding home sweaty & geeked from a "wild" night at the local teen club (hilarious), you'd sign on to AIM which sorta became an afterparty in itself. You know, teenagers doing what they do best, tryna cut something (don't front, its true). Even in my formidable years, I realized the power in words and written game is so much more tangible. I won't even incriminate myself and discuss the benefits of picture sharing & AIM. *Computer Love playing softly in the background* Cellular phones COMPLETELY altered the way the game is played. Sadly, I did not have one before I graduated from high school (Mom was a habitual hater) but my best friend did...And his # was my # when it was necessary. This was the best way to pump fake the parents into thinking you were one place and using the celly to make arrangements so you could go slam dunk something. YOOOUUUU-A! (c) The Dream. And when you became bored of actually talking on your cell phone, then you had thumb fuckin or text sex.
It's evident now though that pseudo talking i.e. texting is the preferred method of communcation. I don't know why it came as such a surprise initially. I mean, everyone wrote notes in their youth. Numerous people find comfort in being able to share thoughts w/o truly (by that I mean audibly) voicing their opinion. The convenience of the text message is undeniable. Don't want to talk, text. Out with the homies but you'd rather be with someone else, text. Out with the homies and you want to make sure you're with someone at the end of the night [AY! (c) Juiceman], text. I will say that there needs to be some text etiquette that comes with every phone (extra rules if you have a QWERTY keyboard) although I won't get into them all on this post. Remember, safe text is great text. Also, in case you didn't know, Bitches love smiley faces (c) Ed Wuncler (The Boondocks). Emoticons, ya know this shit --> :-) :-( ;-P
I digress...The point of this whole post was to say, check out this song "LOL Smiley Face". Yeah I got a bit long winded on this one.
Aside: Be weary of the drunk text, the incriminating text, or the superlongtextthatprobablywillbemisinterpreted.
4 comments:
I wasn't one of the "cool" kids, so I didn't have my own party line in HS, and did get bumrushed on the phone quite a bit for falling asleep on that joint as well as turning off the ringer in my parents room, lol... but I digress. Indeed, texting has replaced verbal communication. When I look at my monthly phone bill, I'm like.. what's the friggin' point of having peak/anytime minutes... They just need to switch that joint around to peak text and you just pay for minutes as you need them, lol. And I agree, writing is a much easier conduit for allowing one's feelings to wild out, lol. But alas, I sometimes miss the late night whispers of horny innuendo over the phone. The one thing that I have learned the hard way from texting is that for as much convenience you have, you lose the personality of the conversation. You can't tell tone. Which allows for A LOT of MIScommunication... which I have a degree in, lol. And I think Emoticons were an attempt at trying to resolve that issue, but no matter how many tongues you poke out or smiley faces one sends... the proverbial "shyt" can still hit the fan. So regardless of whether you're typing game or spitting game, you still can end up with your foot in your mouth. Now, is there an Emoticon for that?!!!
As always Sir Dave, enjoyed the thoughts. Thanks for sharing :) :P :o :x LMAO....
DUDE! Walk down memory lane. Sigh.
All the kids with their own lines peaked in high school. By now most of their coolness tank is all tapped out.
Shoulda been a nerd until late high school/college like the rest of us!
I agree with N. Harlem!! So Dave, your coolness factor should be at an all time high right now, lol. I know mine is :)
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