Now I know this is a bit off-topic, but only slightly. I'm here to complain about mass-text-messaging. During the holidays, these mass-texts are especially prevalent: "Merry Christmas!" from someone you don't speak with all that often, or even from someone you speak to rather often. It's vague enough to make me wonder, is it a mass-text? I feel torn: do I text back in thanks, or do I feel slighted for the impersonality of a mass-message?
My Cromagnum cell phone allows me to send to multiple recipients, but not to mass-text. When I send a text to, say, two of my friends, I write, "Do you guys wanna go to the Elbo Room for reggae tonight?" I make it explicit that I've sent it to both of them ("you guys"). However I know other people have the mass-text capability. I propose that it's good etiquette to indicate when you're mass-texting through such contextual cues.
In the email context, you can tell when something has been sent to "undisclosed recipients." Is my phone too ancient? Do other phones manifest a mass-text? If other phones make mass-texting obvious, I wouldn't feel like someone was trying to pull one over on me.
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3 comments:
I've gotten those txts too, usually from folks who are under 30 and originally from Asia. I don't know if that's relevant or not but I suspect it is.
It's probably a mass-txt, but I don't mind. I've done mass e-mails to friends & family, so it would be a little one-sided of me to resent it when I'm on the other end.
Hmm, that's a good point about the double-standard. I do mass-email - but I don't mass-text. With the convergence of internet and cell phones, however, perhaps I'm splitting hairs.
But again, it's the notice factor: on email, I can tell when it's mass!
The thing about text messages, though, is that some people theoretically have to pay for them above a certain limit, while others have unlimited SMS. The post made me realize for the first time that some of the "Merry Christmas" messages I received yesterday were probably mass mailings. I felt so special at the time, but now I know I'm just important enough to make the list. Hmm. We'll see what happens on NYE...
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