What the Circumstance Calls For

Call or Text? A question I know I ask myself quite often. When it comes down to making the decision I think to myself about what I want to say, if it’s something short and simple, text it, if it’s something long-winded, or I’m not quite sure how to put down what I want to say in a text, then I’ll call the person. Something else that comes to mind when making that decision is who I’m trying to contact, if it’s someone I know who has issues with texting or just prefers to call, I’ll call them, if it’s someone who I know I can get ahold of by texting, I’ll usually text them. While I do text more than I call, I prefer to call people, because I feel it is easier to get my message to that person the clearest way possible. This is because a text has no voice or tone to it, and someone could misinterpret what you are trying to say.

I know when I choose to call people, I tend to find it easier to describe something that I need. When texting it is harder for me to describe what is specifically wrong with something, or something that I specifically need. For example, I was working on my truck recently, because there was squeaking coming from the rear brakes, when my uncle and I figured out the problem, I had to call my dad to tell him what was wrong because I couldn’t figure out how to put it into a text without making it 3 pages long. That’s another reason to call instead of texting, nobody that I know likes to read a crazy long message on their phone screen, when I realize that I would need something like that I just call the person instead. That also carries into having long text conversations. I hate having to be constantly watching my phone waiting for someone to type out their response just to keep the conversation going when it flows so much better when you just call that person and conversate that way. This doesn’t make calling better than texting though, these are just the advantages of calling someone over texting them.

Texting is the more common form of contact, at least for me it is. Texting is nice because you can ask people short questions, like asking someone to do a small favor/task. Texting is also, good for having small conversations, about something that is going on in life. The best part is being able to send images, whether it’s to show someone something to get their opinion on it, to send your friend a funny meme, or if you want to send someone a good video. Texting is definitely a very good form of communication and is much better for short communication, but anything more, calling is the way to go.

Calling people has its advantages over texting people when it comes to needing to describe something that you need, when having a conversation with someone, and when needing to contact someone urgently, but that doesn’t mean it is better than texting. Both texting and calling have their proficiencies over each other. Texting is great for when you just need to ask a quick question, if you want to have a brief conversation, or if you want to send someone a picture or video. Even though texting is probably more common than calling now, they both have their advantages and disadvantages, and both are equally good forms of communication, its just using the right one for what the circumstance calls for.

“HTC Windows 8X Cell phone smart phone” by GoodNCrazy is licensed under CC BY 2.0.