BBC Learnings · Section 6

Why do we choose to text instead of talk

Can I ask you something, Georgina? Georgina, I said I want to ask you something.

Level: C1 · 116 sentences

Transcript

Can I ask you something, Georgina?
Georgina, I said I want to ask you something.
Are you listening to me?
Just a second, Neil.
I'm texting a friend.
Has this ever happened to you someone too busy texting to talk?
With the huge rise of mobile phones in recent decades,
communicating by text has become more and more popular
and scenes like this have become increasingly common.
And send there, all done.
Now, what were you saying, Neil?
In this programme,
we'll be investigating why people often choose to text
instead of talk to the people in their lives.
We'll be asking whether this popular form of communication
is changing how we interact with each other.
And of course, we'll be learning some related vocabulary as well.
Now, Neil, what did you want to ask me?
My quiz question, Georgina, which is this.
Young people are often the biggest users of mobile phones,
but in a 2016 study,
what percentage of British teenagers said they would prefer
to send a text rather than speak to someone,
even if they were in the same room?
Is it... a 9% b 49% or c 99%?
That sounds pretty shocking.
I can't believe 99% of teenagers said that, so
I'll guess b 49%.
OK, Georgina, we'll find out later if that's right.
In one way,
the popularity of texting sometimes called talking with thumbs is understandable.
People like to be in control of what they say.
But this low-risk way of hiding behind a screen
may come at a cost,
as neuroscientist Professor Sophie Scott explains to Sandra Cantle
for BBC World Service programme,
The Why Factor.
When we talk with our thumbs,
by text or email or instant message,
we're often prioritising speed over clarity and depth.
But when we can't hear the way someone is speaking,
it's all too easy to misunderstand their intention.
So if I say a phrase like...
oh, shut up, has a different meaning than, oh, shut up.
There's an emotional thing there, but also a strong kind of intonation.
One's sort of funny, one's just aggressive.
Written down, it's just aggressive.
Shut up. And you can't soften that.
We always speak with melody and intonation to our voice,
and we'll change our meaning depending on that.
You take that channel of information out of communication,
you lose another way that sense is being conveyed.
When reading a text, instead of listening to someone speak,
we miss out on the speaker's intonation that's the way the voice rises and falls when speaking.
Intonation how a word is said often changes the meaning of words
and phrases small groups of words people use to say something particular.
Reading a phrase like, oh shut up,
in a text instead of hearing it spoken aloud,
makes it easy to misunderstand the speaker's intention,
their aim or plan of what they want to do.
And it's not just the speaker's intention that we miss.
A whole range of extra information is conveyed through speech,
from the speaker's age and gender to the region they're from.
Poet Gary Turk believes that we lose something uniquely human
when we stop talking.
And there are practical problems involved with texting too,
as he explains to BBC World Service's The Why Factor.
If you speak to someone in person
and they don't respond right away,
that would be rude.
But... You might be speaking to someone in person
and someone texts you and it would be ruder
for you then to stop that conversation
and speak to the person over text.
Yet the person on the other side of the text is getting annoyed you haven't responded right away.
It's like we're constantly now creating these situations using
our phones that allow us to tread on minds.
No matter what you do,
we're going to disappoint people because we're trying to communicate in so many different ways.
Do you prioritise the person on the phone
or do you prioritise the person you're speaking to?
Who do you disappoint first?
You're going to disappoint somebody.
So, what should you do if a friend texts you
when you're already speaking to someone else in person physically present, face-to-face?
You can't communicate with both people at the same time,
so whatever you do, someone will get annoyed, become angry and upset.
Gary thinks that despite its convenience,
texting creates situations where we have to tread on minds
another way of saying that something is a minefield,
meaning a situation full of hidden problems and dangers,
where people need to take care.
Yes, it's easy to get annoyed
when someone ignores you to text their friend.
Oh, you're not still upset about that, are you, Neil?
It's like those teenagers in my quiz question.
Remember I asked you how many teenagers said they'd
prefer to text someone even if they were in the same room?
I guessed it was b 49%.
Which was the correct answer.
I'm glad you were listening, Georgina, and not texting.
Haha! In this programme,
we've been discussing ways in which texting differs from talking with someone in person, or face-to-face.
Sending texts instead of having a conversation means we
don't hear the speaker's intonation the musical way their
voice rises and falls.
A phrase, or a small group of words like, oh shut up,
means different things when said in different ways.
Without intonation, we can easily misunderstand a text writer's intention
their idea or plan of what they are going to do.
which in turn means they can get annoyed
or become irritated if you don't understand what they mean
or don't respond right away.
All of which can create an absolute minefield
a situation with many hidden problems where you need to speak
and act carefully.