Standards for the Telecom Industry

I hate text technology. Of all the telecommunication technology available, I dislike it the most. I think that we only use SMS because we do not have an alternative to cheap real-time telecommunication technology. I would not describe it as convenient, because it is not. I find it very difficult to text and I know that I am not the only one having a hard time. I also believe it causes as much damage as it does any good to our society. The way it warped our sense of the English grammar, not to mention the countless miscommunication and misunderstanding that have resulted from text conversations. It is a high price to pay for the ability to communicate.

You see, our thoughts are not entirely conveyed in a text message. It does not allow for tone, pronunciation, and non-verbal communication like facial expressions and hand gestures. Therefore, text messages filter out what I refer to as the “humanity in the message”, thus increasing the chance for misinterpretation. This in addition to the occasional lag, “wrong send”, or heck undelivered text message accounts for a big percentage of miscommunication and therefore conflict among human beings.

“But how about chat and email?” you might say, “Don’t they suffer from the same defect?” True, but then I honestly believe that they have characteristics that mitigate their inability to convey the humanity in the message. First off, they do not cost on a per message rate. Therefore, in bulk messages sent, you can argue that they are cheaper. Second, chat and email are practically borderless, spanning the entire globe. SMS on the other hand is limited by national boundaries. Furthermore, as far as I am concerned, having preference for a keyboard and being able to type correctly, chat and email is also more convenient to use.

If I were to rank telecommunications technologies on the basis of cost, ease of use and the ability to retain/convey the humanity in the message, it would look something like this (please take note that the ranking/scores indicated below is in no way substantiated and is simply a product of the author's personal opinion):

Criteria: Ease of Use (30%), Cost (20%), Humanity in the message (50%)
Personal conversation - 10, 10, 10
Phone call - 8, 8, 10
VOIP - 7, 6, 8
Chat - 5, 7, 6
Email - 4, 7, 4
Snail Mail - 2, 6, 4
Text messaging - 4, 5, 2

I look forward to the day when we develop a better alternative to text messaging. Either that or perhaps we can finally convince these telecom giants that phone calls made through cellular phones should be free. Until then, I guess I will have to make do with chikka text using my computer.

- Elgene L. C. Feliciano