Technology

Alright, alright. I've let another week slip by without posting. I need to try to write more often. Topics, topics, topics.... Hmmm. Well, something I tend to come back to thinking about a lot is my social life. How is it affected by my hearing loss and how is it affected by my introversion? One doesn't have to be hard of hearing to know that quality is greater than quantity when it comes to friends. I find myself hanging out with just my boyfriend a lot in recent months as opposed to going out with groups of friends. People say, "Hey, we need to hang out some time!" Then they get busy and never call… or respond to messages left on their phones. Things never get arranged. It may literally be months or years before we ever end up seeing each other. Sometimes I feel like I lack social motivation. I'm not the one to call, but is it because I don't like talking on the phone or because I'm afraid people won't want to (or won't have time to) hang out one on one? You'd think with all the ways we have now to contact one another we'd be able to keep in touch, make arrangements and work out our schedules. I admit to being a little addicted to things like facebook, e-mail and texting. Phone calls are a thing of the past, right? I mean, who actually calls people on their phones anymore when there are so many other ways to communicate? Older hard of hearing friends have suggested TTY before. I really don't like the thought of it. It seems like ancient technology. It's so slow. Besides, I wouldn't feel right using it, not for a private conversation. For those unfamiliar with TTY; you have a special phone that types out what the other person is saying onto a screen. There's actually an operator in the middle typing that out for you, so not only do you have to stop and wait for them in the middle, but you can't have a really private conversation. Today we have things like aim, skype, text messaging, etc. I really don't see why TTY is necessary at all anymore, unless you're 80 years old and a total technophobe.

I was just chatting with a friend about the phone interview I'd had. He seemed almost surprised that I was able to do an interview via telephone. When I asked why he was so surprised he said that he "never had any reason to think I couldn't use the phone, but he realized that he had never talked to me over the phone, so he wasn't sure." We went on to discuss how I feel about talking on the phone and about how most people of our generation feel about talking on the phone. I told him that I'm actually fine talking on the phone as long as it has decent volume control. He wasn't surprised when I said that every guy I've been on a date with up to my current boyfriend, every one of them "hearing," seemed less willing to talk on the phone than I am. Usually the only phone conversations we have go something like this...

Me: "Hey, I just finished dinner. I'm getting ready to leave the house. I'll be over in about half an hour."

Him: "Ok, see you in a bit."

... or vice versa. This conversation is so minimal it might as well have been conducted via text. Calling sometimes gives one a little more of a guarantee that you’ll actually get a hold of the person while the message is still relevant. Of course, that depends on whether or not they constantly check their phone for messages. Some people text back so fast that you wouldn’t think they’d had time to receive the one you sent them. We talked about how a lot of people our age prefer new technology to old, not just the hard of hearing. So I'm left with these questions: Do guys in general dislike talking on the phone? Is it just a sign that the times are changing? OR Are they all aware of how verbose I am and want to avoid a conversation like the plague?