OT: Rant & Thoughts - Chats and Emails

Taera · #1 December 4th, 2003, 07:39 AM

At school, i was recently read an article to

that presented some interesting ideas, and i got thinking. Deep in it all, are chats and emails are such a good idea? Of course, easy to discuss and talk, some people are more talkative, but the drawbacks? I've realized that people build whole new personalities Online (i intentionally avoided that), talk the way they wouldn't in real life. And beyond all of that, friendships - my age-group mostly live in msn. at least the people i talk to. and somehow, i find that when you talk to a person too much on chats (mainly MSN for me lately) and not enough in real-world, you just lose the hang of it... friendship loses its... 'magic'? and things become dull. And as i think about it, i dont usually even see the people on my buddy lists save for school, but chat a lot Online. And... its wrong. Online friendships feel wrong to me.
I've been trying to get a long time friend of mine, who's now overseas after i left the country, Online. Then i realized... its better off with the phone and the snail-mail.

It is an idea i found interesting. Anyone else has any thoughts? Overall, just thought i'd share my thoughts on the subject.

[ December 04, 2003, 05:39: Message edited by: Taera ]

narf poit chez BOOM · #2 December 4th, 2003, 07:44 AM

well, while reading your post, the thought that the verbal-emotional side of it is missing Online was percolating through my thoughts.

Taera · #3 December 4th, 2003, 07:54 AM

lost you, missing in the post?

narf poit chez BOOM · #4 December 4th, 2003, 07:56 AM

well, you don't hear tone of voice on the internet.

which is a bit of a downside, since i'm pretty good with mine. and i can do funny, made-up accents pretty easy.

Taera · #5 December 4th, 2003, 08:01 AM

yes, you got it. i can rant about downsides of chats, but i wont as its just a waste of forumspace

Fyron · #6 December 4th, 2003, 09:07 AM

Silly Taera... get Yahoo IM and a microphone (and your friend needs one too). Then, you can voice chat all you want! No need for typing at all.

You can even use a cheap 10-15 dollar microphone, and they work great. A little lag sometimes, but so what? Lose none of the tonal inflection of speech.

Taera · #7 December 4th, 2003, 09:23 AM

its not the same. its not about the speech fyron, not even the facial expressions... its just the physically being with the other person that is missed in the world of bytes, and physically being somewhere. also, chats are easy to drift away from, and lose creditability as most things people say cant be checked, so have to be believed in..

Fyron · #8 December 4th, 2003, 09:28 AM

Umm... it was about the statement that you would rather do phone conversations and snail mail than chatting... voice chat handles the phone conversations nicely, and is free.

Taera · #9 December 4th, 2003, 09:42 AM

that was an extention, my post is split to two - first saying that chats and emails lack what the real chats have to offer, and then i said that chats etc are a little unreal and i'd rather have phone and snail-mail. sorry, i dont follow standard rant (aka essay) format that they teach me in English

se5a · #10 December 4th, 2003, 09:51 AM

I find it easyer to type, my voice gets tired quickly, and if the conversation gets boring its WAY easyer to dismiss yourself to go do something else.

and besides, there is no such thing as "an awkward silence"

though I do understand what you mean taera.
frendships over the net are umnn "cheap" for want of a better word. you dont have to work hard at them. you can come and go as you please, you dont have that "rubbing" which knocks all the sharp edges off you