Why do we choose to text instead of talk? 6 Minute English

136,713 views ・ 2020-12-03

BBC Learning English


Please double-click on the English subtitles below to play the video.

00:07
Hello. This is 6 Minute English from BBC Learning English.
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I’m Neil.
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And I’m Georgina
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Can I ask you something, Georgina…?
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Mm-mm-hmm.
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Georgina? I said, I want to ask you something…
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are you listening to me?!
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Mm-hmm,
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just a second, Neil, I’m texting a friend…
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Ah, has this ever happened you?
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Someone too busy texting to talk.
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With the huge rise of mobile phones in recent decades,
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communicating by text has become more and more popular
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and scenes like this have become increasingly common.
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…and send! There, all done!
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Now, what were you saying, Neil?
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In this programme, we’ll be investigating why people
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often choose to text, instead of talk to the people in their lives.
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We’ll be asking whether this popular form of communication
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is changing how we interact with each other.
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And, of course, we’ll be learning some related
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vocabulary as well.
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01:00
Now, Neil, what did you want to ask me?
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My quiz question, Georgina, which is this.
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Young people are often the biggest users of mobile phones,
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but in a 2016 study, what percentage of British
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teenagers said they would prefer to send a text
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rather than speak to someone,
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even if they were in the same room?
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Is it: a) 9 percent?,
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b) 49 percent?, or, c) 99 percent?
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That sounds pretty shocking!
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I can’t believe 99 percent of teenagers said that,
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so I’ll guess b) 49 percent.
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OK, Georgina. We’ll find out later if that’s right.
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In one way, the popularity of texting, sometimes called
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‘talking with thumbs’, is understandable - people like to
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be in control of what they say.
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But this low-risk way of hiding behind a screen may come
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at a cost, as neuroscientist, Professor Sophie Scott,
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explained to Sandra Kanthal, for BBC World Service
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programme, The Why Factor:
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When we ‘talk with our thumbs’ by text or email or
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instant message, we’re often prioritising speed over clarity
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and depth.
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But when we can’t hear the way someone is speaking it’s all
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too easy to misunderstand their intention.
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So if I say a phrase like, ‘Oh shut up!’ -
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has a different meaning than, ‘Oh shut up!’
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There’s an emotional thing there but also a strong
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kind of intonation: one’s sort of funny,
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one’s just aggressive.
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Written down it’s just aggressive – ‘Shut up!’
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- and you can’t soften that. […] We always speak with melody
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and intonation to our voice and we’ll change our meaning
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depending on that.
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You take that channel of information out of communication
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you lose another way that sense is being conveyed.
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When reading a text instead of listening to someone speak,
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we miss out on the speaker’s intonation –
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that’s the way the voice rises and falls when speaking.
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Intonation, how a word is said, often changes
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the meaning of words and phrases - small groups of words
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people use to say something particular.
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Reading a phrase like, ‘Oh shut up!’ in a text,
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instead of hearing it spoken aloud, makes it
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easy to misunderstand the speaker‘s intention –
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their aim, or plan of what they want to do.
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And it’s not just the speaker’s intention that we miss.
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A whole range of extra information is conveyed
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through speech, from the speaker’s age and gender
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to the region they’re from.
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Poet, Gary Turk, believes that we lose something
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uniquely human when we stop talking.
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And there are practical problems involved with texting too,
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as he explains to BBC World Service’s, The Why Factor:
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If you speak to someone in person and they don’t respond
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right away, that would be rude.
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But you might be speaking to someone in person
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and someone texts you...
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and it would be ruder for you then to stop that conversation
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and speak to the person over text…
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yet the person on the other side of the text is getting annoyed –
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you haven’t responded right way – it’s like we’re
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constantly now creating these situations using our phones
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that allow us to like tread on mines –
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no matter what you do, we’re going to disappoint people
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because we’re trying to communicate in so many different ways.
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Do you prioritise the person on the phone?
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Would you prioritise the person you’re speaking to?
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Who do you disappoint first?
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You’re going to disappoint somebody.
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So what should you do if a friend texts you when you’re
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already speaking to someone else in person –
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physically present, face to face?
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You can’t communicate with both people at the same time,
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so whatever you do someone will get annoyed –
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become angry and upset.
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Gary thinks that despite its convenience,
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texting creates situations where we have to tread on mines,
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another way of saying that something is a minefield,
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meaning a situation full of hidden problems and dangers,
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where people need to take care.
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Yes, it’s easy to get annoyed when someone ignores you
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to text their friend…
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Oh, you’re not still upset about that are you, Neil?
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Ha, it’s like those teenagers in my quiz question!
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Remember I asked you how many teenagers
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said they’d prefer to text someone,
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even if they were in the same room.
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I guessed it was b) 49 percent.
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Which was… the correct answer!
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I’m glad you were listening, Georgina, and not texting!
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Ha ha! In this programme we’ve been discussing
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ways in which texting differs from talking with someone in person
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– or face to face.
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Sending texts instead of having a conversation
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means we don’t hear the speaker’s intonation –
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the musical way their voice rises and falls.
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A phrase - or small group of words - like ‘Oh shut up!’,
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means different things when said in different ways.
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Without intonation we can easily misunderstand a
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text writer’s intention – their idea or plan of
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what they are going to do.
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Which in turns means they can get annoyed –
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or become irritated, if you don’t understand
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what they mean, or don’t respond right away.
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All of which can create an absolute minefield –
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a situation with many hidden problems,
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where you need to speak and act carefully.
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And that’s all we have time for in this programme,
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but remember you can find more useful vocabulary,
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trending topics and help with your language learning
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here at BBC Learning English.
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We also have an app that you can download for free
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from the app stores and of course
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we are all over social media. Bye for now!
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Bye!
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