Pondering...

jks9199

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An observation or thought that came to me while at the gym today, for what it may be worth...

I don't wear earphones, carry my phone (unless I absolutely must), or otherwise retreat into myself at the gym. I'm in the minority. The vast minority. Like sometimes, the only one. (Today, there were about 3 of us.) I've seen this other places, too, like parks and playgrounds. This is my observation: We've managed to isolate ourselves more and more while we're in public, and there's an irony when you look around a restaurant or coffee shop, and realize that everyone in there is communicating -- with people who are somewhere else. We're isolating ourselves from those nearby to communicate with those who are far away...

Wouldn't talking with people not there once have been signs of a mental problem? Or witchcraft?
 

Tez3

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I wear headphones at the gym, they aren't actually playing but the last thing I want when I'm sweating working hard is someone telling me I'm doing it wrong or otherwise trying to chat when the most I can manage in return is a grunt. I don't go to the gym to be socialise nor do I see it as a place I have to talk to people. going to the gym isn't a social activity for me.
Outside the gym, I talk to everyone, I live in a place where people do that. I have to remember when going to bigger places not to talk to everyone I meet.
 
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jks9199

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I'm not suggesting that someone at the gym should be holding conversations like they might in a bar or coffee shop, or even a library... It's just where I noticed it. There were probably 15 to 30 people working out, throughout the time I was there. And, like I said, I've seen it in other places...

It was just a thought and observation...
 

Sukerkin

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I see the symptom of the same thing at work with the younger people. They sit at the tables with the members of their team and then all of them on texting away on their iPhones et al rather than talking to each other.

It might be purely generational for teams, like mine, where there are significantly older members as well as the young do not seem to have the same 'technological isolationist' ambiance. Of course that might just be me being loud and gobby :eek:.
 

seasoned

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Texting can become very contagious, and I do see it as a hindrance for interpersonal relationships. Your observations are most correct.
 

Tez3

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Good for shift workers though!
The upside of texting is that a good many young people are communicating more than they used to, it may be in a sort of language many of us don't understand but more communicating is going on now. When we see young people texting we are seeing the 'public' face of what they are doing, they are communicating face to face just as much as they have ever done maybe more, they can still write properly and they still the young people we know and love! Texting is often cheaper than having a phone conversation, it's certainly a lot more private!

People at work don't always want to talk to each other in their break time! Texting means you can have contact with loved ones when it's inappropriate to have a phone conversation.

It's often said that parents should demand their children talk more rather than text but really how many teenagers do you know who talked more before there was texting? At least if they text their parents it's communication lol! All you normally would get is a grunt and that's better than a text? Young people aren't any more stupid because of texting but they have found a way to say things in texts that they found difficult to actually say before. It's communicating and that's important.
 

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On the bright side, many of those electronic conversations happen with people from far away places, making it more difficult to think of Hassan as that Muslim out to kill Americans and that his true nature as just a friend. Like any tool, it can have its' good points and bad. It does annoy the hell out of me when I'm meeting with someone, or even worse eating with them and they are to busy with thier little communication tools to understand the social interactions that should be happening right there. No idea what a solution for that particular problem would be other than taking thier electronic device away from them for a time, until they show social graces of some caliber.
 

Sukerkin

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Aye, that is a common thing. Mind you, it has always happened with telecommunications devices. The ringing phone gives a sense of urgency that it must be answered, even when you are talking to someone else.
 

Tez3

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Aye, that is a common thing. Mind you, it has always happened with telecommunications devices. The ringing phone gives a sense of urgency that it must be answered, even when you are talking to someone else.

At work our phone does take priority LOL, our 'rules' say it has to be answered in three rings as do military phones. As for mobiles it does depend on who's calling and who you are talking to! It can be 'saved by the bell'!
 

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...

Wouldn't talking with people not there once have been signs of a mental problem? Or witchcraft?

In fact, that has been mentioned and exploited in different science fiction or fantasy stories.

As to your comment on phones, I think they are so new we are just still working on correct etiquette. But even so I agree with yours and others comments lack of etiquette where one pays more attention to a phone call or text that a person in front of them.

Myself, I hardly ever text. It just isn't how I have been communicating. I not against it, it just me at this point in time. In a gym or elsewhere I have no problem talking to people there as long as they don't try to hang on me and prevent me from doing what I am there for.

But I have often wondered if for some people, cell phones and texting don't serve dual purposes. It shows they are part of the 'in crowd' which is important for some, and it also isolates someone from face to face contact, which is more intimate. Don't everyone jump up and be defensive, because I understand they are just conveniences for many people. I do carry a cell phone, but don't put a lot of minutes on it. But when I use it, it is convenient.
 

Monkey Turned Wolf

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I believe that a lot of people use it in order to talk to the people who they care more about but are not nearby, instead of the people who they care less about but are nearby, which in itself is not a bad thing. However, by texting during a conversation, or (more rudely IMO) texting rather than holding a conversation, unless you explain that it's for business/important family matters/etc., you are being INCREDIBLY rude to the people nearby by saying you care so much less about them that you choose to text others (whom you can text anytime) rather than talk to them in person while said person is with you face-to-face.
EDIT: As oftheherd1 said, its also part of unknown etiquette. While I may find it rude in that respect, the texter may simply believe that now they are able to talk to two people they like rather than just one, not placing either above the other.
 

granfire

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Good for shift workers though!
The upside of texting is that a good many young people are communicating more than they used to, it may be in a sort of language many of us don't understand but more communicating is going on now. When we see young people texting we are seeing the 'public' face of what they are doing, they are communicating face to face just as much as they have ever done maybe more, they can still write properly and they still the young people we know and love! Texting is often cheaper than having a phone conversation, it's certainly a lot more private!

People at work don't always want to talk to each other in their break time! Texting means you can have contact with loved ones when it's inappropriate to have a phone conversation.

It's often said that parents should demand their children talk more rather than text but really how many teenagers do you know who talked more before there was texting? At least if they text their parents it's communication lol! All you normally would get is a grunt and that's better than a text? Young people aren't any more stupid because of texting but they have found a way to say things in texts that they found difficult to actually say before. It's communicating and that's important.

well, yes....

But:

Communication is only so much verbal.
Much is hidden in the voice, the way you say it, even more is communicated through body language.

While I was in Germany I watched a talk show. It was about dating and such. One of the ladies in the round said she was managing a boy band. handsome bright kids, no girl friends....had no idea how to communicate face to face with the girls.

So, yeah, great, they communicate some, with somebody. But eventually you have to get some face time, or your real social life is up for a bumpy right.
 

arnisador

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I'll be curious to see what this has done to society 30 years from now...er, if I make it that long.
 

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