KiranThe Herald's 'Text in the City'
May 18th 2006 11:20
An article published in The Sydney Morning Herald in 2003 entitled ‘Text and the city’ reported “SMS may be the perfect tool for ‘romantic texting’, but it means flirting is no longer free. Sending such messages as C4U ("crazy for you") or W2BAI ("want to be an item?") will cost the sender up to 25 cents a time - a boon for the carriers, which have become the modern-day Cupids. Virgin Mobile, which estimates 70 per cent of its customers are under 30, charges only 10 cents when both the sender and the recipient are Virgin subscribers. In a recent "love poll", Virgin found 90 per cent of its teenage users flirt by texting, 53 per cent use SMS to ask someone out, and 25 per cent thought SMS would help them "score". Virgin has even released a guide to textual flirting: "The Joy of Text", and hosts regular SMS "love-in" events. In April, the telco will start a dedicated mobile phone dating service in the UK, Flirt Alert, similar to Vodafone's Luv Shack. A more sinister side to the developments, though, is the presence of mobile phone "stalkers": being pestered by someone sending unwanted advances.”
| 132 |
| Vote |
subscribe to this blog
Comment by charles
ZCars
Ponderous
I dunno, call me old-school, but what's with all this new-age 'text flirting' biz? W2BAI?!?! WTF?! I was starting to think it was something out of the Da Vinci Code!
But interesting article though. However, do you think people would still text so much IF phone calls in Australia weren't so expensive? Say for e.g., if SMS and phone calls cost the same, what would people choose? Would they rather hear the other person's voice or would they like a 'record' of what's been send back and forth?
Charles.
Comment by kate
I think call costs would definitely affect some people's decisions as whther to text or call, but I definitely think approachability and confidence and laziness also enters the equation. I admit all the shorthand drives me nuts - it took me longer than anyone I know to find out what 'pp'l and 'lol' meant (this was many moons ago but still, I was totally lost! You can just imagine how bamboozled I am in this era, haha).
Texting is quick and easy and can avoid awkward situations, but being void of human interaction can actually reduce social communication rather than increase it. In some respect it really depends if you're a talker or a texter...