One Text Away

Phones over time have become more and more popular. Just about everyone over the age of 12 has a phone, and it’s virtually (no pun intended) impossible to live in the adult world without one. With phones being the leading form of long distance communication, the conversation springs fourth of whether texting or calling is better/more beneficial. Both, in reality, are very circumstantial yet a necessity in everyday life.

Phone calls being the first form of over-the-phone communication was the catalyst for everything we have now on our handheld devices. They started the ineffable love to communicate worldwide. Phone calls are always easy for quick questions and quick responses as well as simply hearing someone’s voice. Another advantage is being able to hear someone’s tone of voice and being able to tell their emotions as well as hearing their cadence.

Additionally, there are a lot of disadvantages to talking on the phone that make a large population of people prefer texting. Often while on the phone, there could be a bad connection on one end, so it can be difficult to hear the other party and their voice might frequently cut out. Something that’s relied on a lot whilst talking to someone is seeing their face, which isn’t possible on calls. Being able to see one’s facial expressions can help immensely to see one’s emotions or read their lips. Without that power it’s easy to misinterpret someone’s emotions.

Texting is way more private and convenient

These days, texting is a much easier form of communication and it’s more common than phone calls. It’s more convenient because it’s much easier to multitask. For example, while on the phone, there’s not much else one could focus on, and their attention is on hearing/responding to the other party. While texting, one could send a text and then go back to whatever else they might be doing while waiting for a response. It’s less disruptive in public spaces, it allows people time to think about their response before sending it. Overall, it’s just a lot easier.

Being unable to tell someone’s tone or emotion through text is highly common, and probably one of its biggest disadvantages. Their tone is completely unheard, so they can mean something completely different than what the other person is reading. However, the solution to this is the use of emoticons. They show emotion and can set the tone of a message, a quick solution. Another disadvantage, much like calls, is bad connection. If there’s a bad connection with texting, the text just wont send. This isn’t as bad as if it were on the phone, but it’s still a drawback.

Both calling and texting have had huge impacts on the world and have made drastic changes to how society works. For me, texting is much more convenient. I use it to have private conversations one on one with people while doing other tasks like homework. I also like being able to think about my response before I send it, making sure that what I’ve said is a good and well thought out reply.