Victor Luckerson, Time magazine:
Text messaging is on the decline, according to a new study by mobile industry analyst Chetan Sharma… During the third quarter of 2012, the average American sent 678 texts per month. That’s a big number, but it’s actually the first time America’s texting habit has declined, down from a peak of 696 texts per month over the summer. Experts say the decrease is likely a sign of a permanent shift away from SMS messaging carried over the same network we use to make phone calls. “With social networking and other platforms, they really take the messaging feature away from that usual channel,” says Wayne Lam, a wireless communication analyst at IHS Technology. “Consumers are messaging, but text messaging as a whole is competing with other forms of messaging.”
And remember, phone years are like dog years. If you haven’t upgraded yours in the last 18 months, there’s a good chance you’ll be looked on as some kind of contrarian throwback to the Dark Ages. A couple of months ago I ventured into a popular high street phone shop to get a new SIM. A greasy young man in bad trousers looked at my old BlackBerry as if it had been unearthed in the ruins of Xunantunich. “Wow,” said he with just a hint of amused contempt. “Old school. I haven’t seen one of these in years.” Greasy Teen then struggled in vain to open the casing, as if eager to behold its clockwork innards. The device was indeed four years old, before human history began, so obviously the locking mechanism was inscrutable to him, involving as it did the pushing of one button. Then came the inevitable, shame-inducing question. “Have you thought about upgrading?”
And since you ask, yes, I did.
the average American sent 678 texts per month
That’s the average? I need more friends.
Rafi,
“I need more friends.”
That, or you could just aggravate the friends you have with a stream of relentless inanity. So far as I can make out, it’s what my niece and nephew do.
“3.8 million British mobile phone users suffer from text-related injuries”
http://www.ergonomictimes.com/article.php?articleID=6
My brother and I are the only people I know who have managed so far to avoid the lure of the mobile phone. I’ve never owned one. If I’m out, I’m unavailable, you can leave a message – isn’t that the point of being out?
It appears to be commonplace now for people, when paying friends a visit, to place their phone directly in front of themselves within grabbing distance in order to monitor it constantly, interrupting conversation when required. Far too many people seem to be so addicted to their little gadget that they have become slaves to the device, servicing its insatiable needs. I’m sure this adds to people’s already stressful lives – they never ‘disconnect’.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zyXSDIgY9aA
“Can’t talk. Playing with phone.”
Looks like Greasy Teen saw you coming. I’m not mocking you. I got a smartphone last year which ended up being stolen. I still mourn its loss, like a sibling who died in childhood.
Mike,
Oh, I did the upgrading elsewhere a few weeks later. So the shaming strategy didn’t work (for him). I should add that I’m a fan of said devices. The rate at which the technology has improved is impressive, and I do like toys. The day after I got The Latest Sleek And Shiny Thing™ I walked around the block watching a virtual me moving in real time around a zoomable, remarkably detailed map of the neighbourhood. As you do. It also means I can keep an eye on you lot when I should be doing something else.
I’ve got a very old Nokia that I can send and receive texts with, and make and receive phone calls on. And I can drop it and it won’t break. This is all I need in a mobile.
Nothing like getting together with friends and then watching them all sit around playing with their phones, oblivious to each other. I’m the only one in my crowd without a smart phone* and I observe this all the time. And I am one hell of conversationalist!
*Not stated with nose in the air. I am not a Luddite either. I will probably get an iPhone soon. I am just not an early adopter.
Am I revealing my age if I mention that I’m still using a 9-year-old “flip” phone? Or that I am, this week, finally replacing my 8-year-old desktop PC?
Not a Luddite, just not an early adopter. Works for me.
There’s now a, um, sport that’s even less telegenic than golf. The US National Texting Championship.
I read a report by a journalist who was profiling Rupert Murdoch. He’d got into a lift with him and the lift attendant was using a very flashy, state of the art phone but hastily put it away. Murdoch’s phone rang, and he pulled out an old Nokia. I forget the model but had one myself. It made calls and handled texts, and the batteries lasted the best part of a week.
Now I have an Android smartphone. Best camera I ever had, because I always have it with me. The flashlight app is useful too.
My handheld has a “phone app.” I use the keypad to dial in numbers, sort of like a code, and it “connects” to the phone whose code I dialed, via science.
From there, the two phones can exchange audio signals simply by having the user shout into the microphone, also included on most devices free of charge. This method does not allow for emoticons, but use of inflection can provide similar signals if the connected fleshsacks share a similar cultural background.
“via science”
I may have to borrow that one.
“The rate at which the technology has improved is impressive…”
It must, surely, reach a point beyond which there’s no further improvement to be made? I don’t think we’re there yet, mind…
Julia,
The battery technology needs an overhaul. Charging the thing every other day (or every day with heavy use) isn’t good enough.
I have a very minimal HTC android phone with tethering on, and a google nexus 7 that uses the internet.
Oh and my PC costs about 4K.
Is it too early to announce that jkrank wins “Comment Of The Day?”
“Old school”?
Punk. Old School involves the use of mysterious objects called a “pencil” and “paper”…
I’m waiting for an Obamaphone.
When people double-take at my old Nokia (possibly a linemate of Smudger’s), I tell them I still have some text messages in memory written in New Testament Greek. I like text though — it’s quick and unambiguous, and the messages send even down in valleys where the signal is bad.
Anybody know if there’s a smartphone app that mimics a 1940’s film-noir payphone dial, complete with sound fx? Now that I’d upgrade for.
“Looks like Greasy Teen saw you coming.” Made me think of:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dSINO6MKtco
I’m with Jim Whyte and Smudger. Old Nokia (6 years or so): texts, calls, no pics or fancy stuff, emergency uses mostly. And it’s a clock/alarm. Tragedy is that on those rare occasions I get to go out these days I can’t get tanked up until I can barely talk, take pictures of myself and post them on facebook for all my “friends” to see. But then, I am 45yo male.
@ mojo: surely Old School would involve a blanket and a fire?
Hee hee! I still have an old Motorola Startac, which is on the verge of becoming cool (or is it ironic now?) again. When I pulled it out at a party recently a young redhead looked at it and said “Cool! How retro!”.
David: The battery technology needs an overhaul. Charging the thing every other day (or every day with heavy use) isn’t good enough.
“This really is the future I wanted. Although I expected longer battery life.” – James Lileks
JuliaM: It must, surely, reach a point beyond which there’s no further improvement to be made? I don’t think we’re there yet, mind…
Maybe yes, maybe no.