Most people see text and voice calling as "ways to reach anyone at any time", and email/IM as "ways to reach people who are at computers"
P.S. I should add that that view seems like something inherent to not being in the habit of actually using texts, only imagining "what might texts be good for" from a non-user's perspective. So it's actually a reasonable example of the topic at hand.
For example, I might send a text to someone to give them an address or phone number or other similar thing that'd be handy to have for reference, and to avoid typos; or I might send a text to answer a question I know he/she had about this evening's plans at a time when I know they're in a meeting or at an event or something, with their phone ringer off, but I'm going to be busy when their thing ends and texting is the most convenient way to give them a bit of practical info that they'll see later when it's convenient; or I might use texting with someone I planned to meet up with at a noisy event once we're both there and trying to find each other; etc.
The dichotomy of "ways to reach anyone at any time" vs. "ways to reach people who are at computers" might make sense when contrasting email/IM to calling cell phones, but applying that categorization to texting says to me that the person thinking that way just doesn't get it about texts, probably though not using them much.
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momijizukamori
no subject
Date: 2009-09-26 23:40 (UTC)P.S. I should add that that view seems like something inherent to not being in the habit of actually using texts, only imagining "what might texts be good for" from a non-user's perspective. So it's actually a reasonable example of the topic at hand.
For example, I might send a text to someone to give them an address or phone number or other similar thing that'd be handy to have for reference, and to avoid typos; or I might send a text to answer a question I know he/she had about this evening's plans at a time when I know they're in a meeting or at an event or something, with their phone ringer off, but I'm going to be busy when their thing ends and texting is the most convenient way to give them a bit of practical info that they'll see later when it's convenient; or I might use texting with someone I planned to meet up with at a noisy event once we're both there and trying to find each other; etc.
The dichotomy of "ways to reach anyone at any time" vs. "ways to reach people who are at computers" might make sense when contrasting email/IM to calling cell phones, but applying that categorization to texting says to me that the person thinking that way just doesn't get it about texts, probably though not using them much.