I'd Rather You Not Call!

Blog 2

Why is it that most people in 2014 would rather not receive a phone call? In the book "Alone Together", chapter 10 teaches us about the feelings a few people Turkle interviewed have towards receiving and making phone calls. Audrey is a teenage girl who the author Sherry Turkle, questions about her methods of communications. Audrey, is not a fan of speaking in person or over the phone with anyone. Audrey is a shy girl who in a group of friends tends to stay quite. It is noted that in most groups you have your social friends who are fine with speaking to anyone, and then the shy type of friends who would rather stay off to the side from everyone else around them.

Today, technology has made it very easy for people who are both good at communicating and bad to stay connected. With the advancement of cell phones and social networking society can have multiple relationships going on without ever leaving the house. Audrey is not alone in her mindset of wanting to stay away from the phone. A personal phone call makes many people feel uncomfortable. People like to take their time on what to say when ask a question. The face to face or over the phone interactions we have force us to choose an answer right away, and it allows no time for rephrasing words if what you said to began with was wrong.



The beauty of a text message is that we can type out our response and erase it as many times as needed until we feel comfortable with the answer we are about to send. Text also allows us breathing room to take the time we need to respond. If it is time to eat dinner you can reply later to the text message. I can fondly remember when my mother was learning how to use her cell phone. She felt it was necessary when someone called her phone to answer it immediately even if she was in the middle of doing something.

For people who grew up without any caller ID on their devices, it was a strange adaption to having the convenience to know who it was who called and how simple it was to called the person back, or to send a text message telling them you are busy. One of the cool features on my smartphone is the application that pops up when someone calls me. If  I am unable to answer the call my phones gives options of a return text message to send out immediately to the person calling.



Another point chapter 10 makes is how easy it is to live through your own created avatar on site such as Myspace and Facebook. If you are someone who is not a fan of the personal interactions you can create blogs and avatars that will allow you to meet friends online and to speak about all your personal experiences you otherwise would not tell anyone. Audrey is very vocal on her online accounts and often speaks to her online community about her experiences in school.  She also comments in the chapter about her many virtual lives currently in play.



Audrey tries to avoid what she refers to as the spillover effect. This occurs when you join an online site and you know people in real life who are on the site as well. People can post things that are not true to make them feel better or sound better to other people. Audrey speaks of a guy who was made fun of at school for his online persona by girls who knew the real him and not who he was pretending to be on the site. For Audrey, what happens on the internet should stay on the internet to avoid the spillover effect.



Technology gives us options. It allows us to make decision everyday on whether or not we want to be someone else, or if we want to perhaps make our true selves more known. It is each persons choice whether or not to answer a call or answer a text. We can exclude our self from the outside world or we can virtually jump into many online communities and feel welcomed that way.


(If you are a victim of Cyber Bullying there is help follow the link here.)