The Superior Communication

There should be no debate between the two methods of communication, texting and calling. Each has its use and the appropriate time for either is different. Other factors can influence this, such as age, relationship, and purpose. Texting with your not-so-technologically-competent grandparent is probably not the best idea, chances are they’re far more comfortable with a phone call, just as a friend at work may find a text message more convenient. In this blog, I will explore some scenarios, and determine which method would have been best.

The first scenario to address is this. You work as a construction worker, one day while pouring concrete, one of the containing walls breaks, concrete floods into the client’s house, and is quickly spreading, causing thousands in damage. Is it better to send your boss a text, or call? Obviously, you’d call your boss, especially in an emergency like this one. In another similar yet different scenario, you work in an office building, and Janet tells you that the coffee machine has broken. Is it better to send your boss a text, or call? This time the answer is in fact, text. For a non-emergency issue, the least time and attention-consuming option is best. You wouldn’t want to waste your boss’s time over a trivial matter.

When it comes to personal matters, calling is best 99% of the time. You want to tell your mom that you just got a huge scholarship to a big school, you would obviously call her. But if you just needed to tell her to pick up milk, you should send a text. Though if you have more than one thing to communicate (as it is most of the time) then calling is best. So far I’ve separated the different methods based on importance, however, there is another separating factor I’d like to address; when needing to communicate something specific, like a grocery list, you’d want to send a text, as over call specific details can be missed or misinterpreted.

In all these scenarios, you have to consider the other variables. Some people just suck at texting, you can’t really understand what they’re trying to say. They can’t communicate their feelings, nor intentions, and oftentimes just make no sense. As an example, your cousin (who sucks at texting) may send you this “u no bour the thlng wit umm wpats her nxme?” Do you notice how this includes no context, and includes multiple typos? You may wanna just call this person.

Personally, I find myself calling far more than I text, even breaking some of my own rules to do so. At the end of the day, I like the human connection, texting feels so informal and robotic it drives me nuts. It’s best to hear another human voice once in a while, especially one you care about. That’s just how it’s changed for me the older I get, when I was younger I rarely ever called someone. I find myself in more adult circles and calling is the most common there, now that I’m a bit older I absolutely understand why.

Featured image citation- “Cell Phones” by Scallop Holden is licensed under CC BY-NC-SA 2.0.