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Volume 1 (1999/2000)
Issue
1 (March 1999)
Issue
2 (Nov. 1999)
Issue 3 (Dec. 1999)
Issue 4 (Feb. 2000)
Issue 5 (March 2000)
Issue 6 (April 2000)
Issue
7 (May 2000)
Volume 2 (2000/2001)
Issue 1 (Sept. 2000)
Issue 2 (Oct. 2000)
Issue 3 (Jan. 2001)
Issue 4 (March 2001)
Issue 5 (April 2001)
Issue 6 (May 2001)
Volume 3 (2001)
Issue 1 (Sept. 2001)
Issue 2 (Nov. 2001)
Categories
Sport: 1
2 3
Lifestyles: 1 2
3
Commentary: 1 2
3
Review: 1 2
3
Writing: 1 2
3
Event: 1 2
3
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Samantha Libreri
St. Michael's Secondary School, Finglas West
In recent years, there has been an obvious decline in human interaction.
The blame has been placed on every new technological gadget that has sold
to a point of saturation. First it was the telephone, then it was e-mail,
then Internet chat rooms and now......text messages.
Eircell's introduction of this service onto its overpopulated Ready To
Go 087 network just a few weeks ago has given birth to a new phenomenon.
A few clicks of a keypad and for just 10p you send a memo or essay (depending
on your patience) to anybody on the 086 or 087 network, which is just
about everybody theses days.
There is now no need to give Mary a "quick buzz" to ask a question
or arrange a meeting. For just 10p you can ask the question, send it in
an instant, while saving yourself the phone bill and the plight of hearing
all the details of her previous nights endeavours. So it is quick, convenient,
conventional, efficient and economical. So, what's the problem?
Well the reality is that no matter how convenient something is we make
it more convenient. When writing text messages we suddenly begin to substitute
"U" for "YOU", "DA" for "THE"
and any other word that can be abbreviated. Our short messages not only
lack interaction but throw our English linguistic skills we have attained
out the window, making us sound like we are "rolling with the homies"
in a seedy New York suburb rather than making a simple statement.
People will now sit for hours exchanging short, abbreviated notes with
questions, comments and jokes without considering picking up the phone
for a chat.What will become of us if this trend continues? Will the ringing
of the phone be replaced by the message notification beep, will we lose
our "gift of the gab" and become inarticulate, or could we face
the plight of becoming socially stunted - addicted to our messages and
getting new adverse disorders like "Text Thumb".
Is this becoming an addiction to replace all others? The irony is that
we are being incited to use this over the art of conversation, because
myself and my friends are charged 20p a minute to converse but not one
of us have yet to be charged for our comical little memos. Is this another
Eircell blunder? Or a marketing ploy to ignite an addiction?
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