Most of us know how it feels to be neglected, forgotten or ignored, but now it’s coming from a direction few would have imagined at one time.
A new study by the Pew Internet and American Life Project reports that 39 percent of cell phone owners say they receive complaints that they don’t answer their cell phone calls or text messages promptly, and another third have been told they don’t check their phones often enough.
This is not surprising, when you consider that ours is a society that has grown accustomed to instant gratification.
A recent Associated Press story about the study quoted a woman who said she’s heard a former boyfriend boast about not reading his text messages — which we think might be one factor that contributed to his being an ex-boyfriend.
When you add email to an equation that already includes text-messages and voicemails, the rejection quotient probably gets even higher.
AP said the problem sometimes lies with technological glitches, the sheer quantity of messages people receive or operator error.
When we give our email address to people over the old-fashioned telephone, we often include an admonition to type in the right address.
To email us a letter to the editor, for instance, send it to letters@times-news.com.
If you send it to letters@timesnews.com, it will go to the Erie, Pa., Times-News. We occasionally get letters meant for that paper, and it sometimes receive letters that are meant for ours.
If you send it to letters@times—news.com, nobody will get it ... at least nobody we know of.
There’s no doubt that email, text-messaging, voicemail and the like have led to great advances in what some call The Information Age.
However, one phenomenon associated with it is somewhat disturbing, at least to those of us who are old-fashioned and traditional when it comes to communication.
Younger people, especially, seem growingly reluctant to talk to each other face-to-face.
We still enjoy doing that sort of thing.
Opinion
Related Photos
-
It’s frustrating
It’s frustrating
Why don’t they answer our texts or voicemails?
- Opinion
-
-
Freedom isn’t exactly what he thinks it is
In the June 2 Times-News, R. Steele Selby (“Just how free are we?) defines freedom as “the capacity to do whatever he or she wants to do” and asserts that this definition is “most likely nearly universal.”
-
What Maryland calls the Fair Share Act isn’t fair at all
The Fair Share Act was passed in 2009. This law allowed for service fees to be part of the collective bargaining process.
The law does not mandate that service fees be negotiated, it simply provides that they can be. -
It’s not new
America’s governments have always afforded us what’s called “a double-edged sword” — one that cuts both ways — when it comes to the contrasting ideas of openness and security.
-
We have lots to show for our education dollars
I would like to take this opportunity to respond to Judith Weller’s latest anti-education diatribe, “The money they already have isn’t being spent wisely,” (June 3).
-
Western Md. Veterans continues its mission
My name is Dan Brashear, I am the founder and director of Western Maryland Veterans.
-
Maybe the cyclists and casino workers should be armed
Again, unfortunately I have to remind Don Carns Jr. of Beans Cove, Pa., on his latest repeatedly inaccurate letter published June 10 in the Cumberland Times-News (“Township is nothing like either Pittsburgh or Philadelphia”).
-
Let’s all kick in $1 to help save Frostburg’s Palace Theatre
As a former resident, I have many fond memories of the Palace Theatre (“Theater wall crumbles: Palace exterior collapses, unfit for entry: officials,” June 6 Times-News, Page 1A).
-
Develop the waterway
Since the debate over removing the dam started about four years ago, I have been concerned about the effect the dam removal would have on the area’s welfare.
-
Living center marks national nursing assistants week
Golden Living Center will join in the celebrations honoring the hundreds of thousands of nursing assistants across the country during National Nursing Assistants Week, June 13-20.
-
West Virginia, Johnny Cash, coal miners honored on stamps
While this most likely won’t fall under the category of the most earth-shattering letter to the editor you will read today, it is still big doings for those of us here at the U.S. Postal Service.
- More Opinion Headlines
-
Freedom isn’t exactly what he thinks it is
