1. "Clive Thompson on the Death of the Phone Call"
Summary: This Wired opinion piece raises some interesting points about the
changing culture surrounding phone use. Specifically, the author notices
how short our voice calls are becoming, if they are even made at all. But
his tone is not nostalgic and critical of the change, rather he sees logic
in this emerging trend.
2. "How New Orleans is Cleaning Up Its Big Sleazy Reputation"
Summary: In commemoration of the 5 year anniversary of Hurricane Katrina,
Time magazine did a series of articles looking back on the event and
assessing the progress made since then. I chose this article because I
thought it did a good job of mixing journalism with a bit of history when
reflecting on the recent condition of New Orleans.
Share your thoughts insights and ideas about the content and structure of these pieces.
3 comments:
The Death of the Phone Call:
I hadn't really thought about this, but it is generally true. Most of my friends have cell phones, and they mainly use them for texting, not calling. I really only use mine to call either my mom or my dad to find out when I'm going to be picked up.
The Death of the Phone Call:
It is almost a bit unnerving to me, how much the article parallels my own life. It is ridiculous how many times in the past month my mom and I have argued about “staying in contact”. If I am out and she calls, I most likely don’t pick up. If she texts me, I immediately respond. This isn’t because I don’t like talking on the phone, but simply because it takes far less effort to text her back rather than have a long drawn out conversation. In this article Thompson states that the average length of a phone call has decreased by half since 2005, and judging from my own peer group I wouldn’t be surprised if many people’s average phone call is far less than this. It could be interesting to publish a study in The Voice examining the MA student body and how closely our community mirrors the statistics presented in this article, and what people’s views are on this technological shift.
The Death of the Phone Call:
It's fascinating to find out how cell phone calls are becoming extinct, becuase as I was reading this, I too realized that I don't call people as often as I text, facebook, skype, etc. It's true that when trying to contact someone casually and to see if they are free to talk, a text message is much easier. However, I think that I call people on the phone when I want to have a formal conversation. I also most often make a phone call when I am trying to reach my parents or someone older becuase they don't usually know how to respond to a text. This is a very interesting article and makes me think that phone calls will become extinct later on because, not only is it more casual to contact people in other ways, but it is also much less expensive.
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