The 400 Project

We’ve come a long way as a human race in a short little while when it comes to communication. The telephone, then the mobile telephone and the internet. Now there are variety of different applications you can use, and more seem to get added to that list every year. It’s utterly amazing to be able to talk to someone across the planet instantly. Just think about that for a second!

Not only can you do this but you don’t have to go anywhere special to do it. You don’t have to really have much knowledge or money to be able to do so either.

This is all glorious but sometimes it can be super frustrating talking to someone over text message. I can’t speak for everyone but for most we’d rather have this form of communication versus an actual phone call or meeting in person. It’s easier, you can think things through, and you can put on a facade or lie way easier. Something that we all need to remember (myself included) is that everyone uses this form of communication differently. Here’s just a few variations I could think of:

• Full sentences with grammar vs. ‘K, LOL, BRB’
• Constantly on their phone vs. not near their person
• ringtones vs. vibrant vs. silent
• Read receipts vs. no receipts
• Quick vs. slow responder
• Quick vs. slow texter
• Emojis and exclamations vs. no grammar dead-pan

Because of this we make a bunch of assumptions as readers of the text message. I have a friend who sends short messages without the use of grammar that often and when I read his messages I always read them as ‘he is pissed off’ based on this. Short and to the point can sometimes be taken as rude and dry. Maybe he didn’t want to spend forever prettying up his message or including filler? Either way I have to re-calibrate my brain to let myself know ‘oh yeah, this is how he texts and he’s actually not being rude’. It can be incredibly difficult judging tone and mood just by how someone uses text. I also have a bad habit of getting annoyed when a message of mine goes unanswered for awhile. That’s doubled when I hang out with the person in the flesh and they are constantly on and or checking their phone. However with text, it’s not like I’m sitting across from this person. They could be doing anything at the time and just not have their phone on them. Their phone could be dead and need a charge. They could have gone out and left it at home (hard to think that would happen knowing how people are with their phones nowadays). That’s another point right there though, as we aren’t all the same. Just because you carry your phone around with you like it’s your lifeline doesn’t mean someone else uses it the same way. It’s just something you need to remind yourself when you send a message, they probably aren’t leaving you hanging out to dry if they don’t reply right away. Now if you were sitting across from someone and they did straight up ignore you, that’s something else entirely.

What are other ways people can complicate text messages? Is your phone your lifeline? What would you do without a phone for a week? Share some stories or comments below.