Arlo and Janis by Jimmy Johnson for June 15, 2016

That is the truth…There is no reason to text somebody on the phone …Face book, is good enough for me…I don’t e-mail or, text….Phone calls and texts, to me, are nothing more than interruptions and interference to my thought process and interruptions in my life…

what a PATHETIC society, we’ve become…

THANK YOU WELL SAID

Varnes….I can attest to the fact that you don’t e-mail…LOL…but some of us dislike Facebook…we like our privacy, and we like communicating with ONE person of our own choosing, not putting our lives indiscriminately on display, even to a select group.And why any select group would want to see my boring life, anyway, I can’t imagine.

Facebook would be a rather slow way to ask someone to dinner, a hard way to surprise someone, a too-public way to discuss someone’s personal problem…

And if I really care about someone, relative, friend, lover….hearing a tone of voice lets me feel a degree of intimacy, recognise a return to health, know the warmth of a welcome….

Texting, meanwhile, is much less of an interruption.I text cos I can do it on my terms, in my own time…and the recipient can answer when it’s convenient.I can also text with two people together… or even have two conversations going…if I’m very careful!If Robin and Janis get on the phone, they might be tied up for an hour…for asking a few questions, say, or making a plan, texting lets you keep doing whatever else you’re doing at the same time… yet it’s faster than e-mail.But I also e-mail, cos it’s even more schedule-tolerant, just like these posts…I keep odd hours…. but I can say this stuff when you’re asleep…and if you come back you’ll see it.

Texting also gives much of the population something to do and look at when driving…

Snerk

FB has it’s uses no doubt. I don’t care for it but it is the only way these days that I can keep in touch with my nephews and other family members. They don’t write letters nor do they call on the phone. It also let’s them know I am alive otherwise they would forget me….out of “site” out of mind.

Recently I’ve begun receiving anonymous and unsolicited texts from allegedly attractive members of the opposite sex who think that I am “hot”.

My question: how did they know?

Machete don’t text. (Me, neither.)

I’m on the text-preferred list to. I’ve hated phones from a young age as I can hear the hiss no matter how good the phone. Makes talking on the phone sheer torture.

Hmm. Interesting. Most of the discussion seems to have involved whether or not to text. But I read this comic today vastly differently:To me, the major message from today’s comic is the significant IRONY in using “Siri” or some other voice recognition gizmo on your phone to write out your text for you…. that you then SEND to your friend to read…. and then she uses her voice recognition gizmo to send a text back.So, for me, the humor and irony stems from this “time saving device” actually be used to put another layer of complexity into simple communication. That said, I do use most of the forms of communication mentioned…. e-mail, texting, voice, FaceBook (my wife’s account…. I sort of share it with her), and videochat (FaceTime for iPhone folks).To me:E-mail is valuable for detailed information that you wish a permanent copy of.Texting for me, is for quick messages, or for “goofing around” or for times when I am in a quiet area and cannot talk out loud.Voice…. the traditional…. and when time and timing permit, still the most wonderful, IMO.FaceBook…. I get all the benefits from using my wife’s account, but none of the hassels, so to me, FaceBook is amusing to see what other friends and relatives are up to.Videochat….especially wonderful when you want to try to speak and see someone who is far away… like with a kid at college or some such thing.

No kidding, Arlo. Why call and talk to someone when you can talk to your phone, it converts to text and then hit send. That is so much easier than actual verbal conversation. Hahaha!

I prefer email to communicate with people. Texting is way too slow to type. I learned to type on a keyboard using all ten fingers. I use FB to see what is going on in some of the relatives lives, but I would never post anything personal for all to see. I am amazed that people do that. I call someone if I actually feel like talking and have lots of free time (rare). Or if I need an answer to something right away.

Each has their own pros and cons. I do but seldom, text, I check FB once a month and see no need to post my every move and I email long letters to some people, but nothing beats hearing a voice live! Those of us over 50 can relate!! I certainly am and do!

Don’t have a FB account, but I do have a blog. My best friend admits to having over 200 unread messages in her email, so I call and talk to her or leave a message. Don’t own – or want – a cell phone, so no texting. A little peace and quiet is nice.

Janis doesn’t get Arlo’s sarcasm,in fact,there’s a lot about Arlo she doesn’t understand.

Never understood FB. You put up a picture of yourself, and say what you have been doing, and a bunch of strangers then decide to be your “friends”. What’s the point? Your real friends will actually talk to you to find out what you’ve been doing, and why would you care about the rest?

(Aside from it being a resource for Mossad to get your details as cover stories for their assassination teams, of course.)

Twitter, on the other hand, I fully understand. Wonderful invention. Never in the history of human communication have so many people been able to demonstrate their total idiocy to so many others. It used to be just our family and friends who knew we were idiots.

And the most asinine social media site of all – YouTwitFace