[LINK] Demise of voice calls - more SMS, instant messenger and email . . . Facebook too?

[Robin Whittle]

Here is a brief article on the trend, which I think is real:

  Clive Thompson on the Death of the Phone Call
  http://www.wired.com/magazine/2010/07/st_thompson_deadphone/

I learnt of this article via the Anthro-L list:

  http://listserv.buffalo.edu/archives/anthro-l.html


I use email and voice calls.  When travelling I have an Acer Aspire
One netbook (Windows XP, an excellent machine) and a clunky looking
Telstra ZTE F165i (T1651) which connects to the netbook via USB.  It
has an extendible antenna and works well with the long-wavelength
Next-G network, such as ~25km from a base-station in the Nullarbor Plain.

I hate and never use IRC, IM, Yahoo Chat etc.  I think I have only
sent SMS messages to report SMS spam.  I am generally at home and
don't give out my cell-phone number - so people send me emails, which
suits me fine.

Potential new Australian customers, even in Melbourne, are more
likely to email first, rather than call by phone.  (I work on
electronic musical instruments.)  However, I generally prefer to talk
by phone rather than spend too much time emailing someone not far
away if there is anything complex to discuss.  I have occasional
phone calls from customers overseas, but almost all of this customer
contact is via email.  This works well, since phone call enquiries
are disruptive when I am working on electronics.

I don't use Facebook etc. - which has become a major form of
messaging for many people.  I have my own website if I want to let
other people see things, including with password-protected
directories.  One friend of mine got a Facebook page because he found
that without it he was no longer being told of what was happening
with his friends near where he lived.  I think this is probably a
common experience.  Phone calls and perhaps emails used to be used
for this - now it sees if you don't use Facebook, you are out of the
loop.

    - Robin