Text versus E-mail or Chat Room

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Mon, 2003-05-12 22:19

We went out for a drink last Saturday night, and one of our party spent most of the night texting her daughter's boyfriend. It was all apparently extremely hilarious and she relayed his comments back to us with an increasing crescendo of giggles and suggestions of what she intended to text back.

Now, call me old fashioned here, but when I go out for a drink with someone I kind of appreciate it if she joins in the general conversation around the table, as opposed to dominating it with another conversation she's having with someone else 100 miles away.

Would it be considered discourteous of me, next time we go out, to take along a lap-top and sit at the table with everyone physically but to be mentally engrossed in a chat room somewhere else or even the ABCtales message boards?

And if so, what's the difference?

Mon, 2003-05-12 23:38

justyn_thyme

The only difference I see is that you'll have more difficulty connecting to the internet than she has with the sms's, unless you have wifi and are in a 'hot' area.

Tue, 2003-05-13 00:12

well if you go out socialising...... 1 that means you socialise with present company 2 if you want to e-mail, text etc why bother going out? I find live entertainment far more well for want of a better word......entertaining.

Tue, 2003-05-13 13:46

Tony Cook

I often go out with my wifi. It drives me mad if people even have a mobile conversation when I am out with them. If I am that boring why bother going out with me? Occasionally, of course, an important call can be awaited. In which case you apologise in advance, take the call and then turn your phone off. I have been known to throw mobile phones out of train carriage windows - so beware!

Tue, 2003-05-13 14:27

justyn_thyme

Do you take your wifi to the "hot" zone? :)) All of this reminds me of an incident in about 1966. I went to a lumber supply place with a friend of my father who wanted to buy some boards, nails, etc. We stood at the counter with a bunch of other hopeful customers while the clerk answered the phone time after time, engaging in lengthy conversations with people, when he had real live customers standing right in front of him. After a while, we walked outside to a phone booth on the corner and called the store (all of 10 feet away). The call was answered immediately. We placed the order and said we would be there in a minute. We walked the 10 feet back to the store and were taken care of instantly, though the clerk did look a bit non-plused when he saw us walking in the door from the phone booth outside. LOL I'm not sure, but maybe he stopped answering the phone after that, but who knows? Some people are slow learners.

Tue, 2003-05-13 15:40

spag

May get girlie to ring me when Tony tries to talk me at the meet. Just to stop Tony from boring me :)

Tue, 2003-05-13 15:59

gail

brings back annoying memories of a guy I went out with for a short time - constantly chatting away to his mates on the phone whilst we were out on dates, checking the football scores he was missing etc.

Fri, 2003-05-16 00:33

Freda

I think it's a cheek if people keep answering the phone and having conversations in their place if they've invited me round. People forget that you have the option to answer or not.You don't even have to answer the door. I am all for unplugging phones and turning off mobiles unless you're in a situation where you're bored and have no-one to talk to

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