Facebooking to Silence buttons: how technology has affected the way we interact

If you know me, i probably bombarded you with this thought already. However even if i already have, then allow me to do it again. cause im sick of it. Im sick of calling people and reaching them wherever they are or happen to be , im sick of how every phone call we utter the exact same 3 lines in the start of it and the same 3 lines at the end of it. why does it always have to be the same 3 lines. inta feen, tayeb shoof we kalemni or kalemni lama tekhalas. i fail to grasp the logic in delaying a decision from now to later, when supposedly the only thing that is different from now and then is the fact that when its then, the then will turn into a now just when the now back then was a now but now is a back then. (wouldnt blame you if your lost that was intentional) no seriously. I've given it alot of thought as to why this is how we've become, and heres what i came up with:

1- being mobile has not only increased our options but ultimately increased our expectations:

Cellphones make you attainable anywhere and at almost anytime.It also makes people attainable anywhere and at almost anytime. So if anything big or fun is up , with a cellphone your chances of being in the know about it are alot higher than in the good old days. Hence if you go out for coffee with an old friend need not worry to be missing out on a foam party in mansoureyya, cause if its happening someone will call you while you are doing the coffee to tell you its happening, and then you can always leave. But what if we turn it around, if u are in a foam party and someone calls you to ask for coffee, frankly you would prefer to spend your time in the foam party and not go for coffee with the old friend, but that friend is persistent wouldnt you wish at times like these you couldnt be sooo attainable?

I noticed how when im out with someone and their phones ring, they always have to answer it. its not that i am booring or that they are waiting for an important phone call, it could be silly like a friend asking them for their favourite colour its just that a ringing phone has to always be answered. why?

heres why...we are romantic silly creatures, everytime a phone rings and you dont know what this person who is calling you wants you just have to answer, cause this very well may be the life changing event you have been waiting for , you never know. What is ridiculous is that when the content of the call is expected you might as well not answer cause you know it could wait. seems logical dont it? well according to logic, smart humans learn through processes of trial and error. that would mean that the more these life changing calls turn out to be false alarms the more you should be smart enough to learn that it aint that important. But does anyone do that...no! our quality times are always interrupted by phone beeps and stylish (yeah right) ringtones, out of our silly expectations or silly beleifs that we are missing out on something.


2 GUI is becoming too good:
some people may be inches away from one another yet prefer to communicate through modern means. once again it is because of options, nothing more. if i go to a friends place, then i am only interacting with my friend. however if i am chatting to him online then i can still get the chance to chat with others tooo. so im better off chatting to him rather than going to him so that i dont limit my communication options. that is one smart way of looking at it , but whatabout calling them on the phone or chatting, actually people prefer chatting, not because an occupied phoneline can only establish contact with one party only but because of the nudges, pics, sounds, tones, and colors...people value interaction of that sort rather than seeing and hearing and smelling and touching and tasting the people. some people actually prefer to chat or txt or call them. people see them as enhancers to communication. frankly i see them as barriers.


3- Its Affecting our ettiquite in dealing with one another:

Mobiles and the internet are supposed to make our lives easier, not harder...ask someone before these inventions were commonplace what would they be doing on the weekend, and they have it all planned out. as for now, you ask someone what they doing in a few hours they tell you call them then , will you make up your mind for Gods sake.



not only that, with the widespread use of mobiles, it is expected of you that you answer, or return the call, because of the whole missed call list ie if you dont pick up then you still know who tried to call you and if you never call that person back then that person will have the right to think that you are avoiding him. So communication has become a guaranteed right, hence if i push a button you are supposed to pop up anywhere and anytime. The days of sitting next to the phone are over, its the phones now that are doing the sitting. some people find that quite liberating, as in you need me you can always get me. So practically when im sitting down with people i can always get a phone call and do something else when if it so happens when i am bored, i am not committed to spend my entire evening with those one people . so hence i shouldnt be that selective in the people i choose to go out with. Communication is supposed to make decisions easier not more harder.