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Friday 11 April 2014

You have 1 unread message


In simpler times/ olden times, communication was a slow process. You want to talk to your sister all the way in London? Well, you would have to write a letter and wait for weeks to have it delivered and then another few weeks for her to send her reply. This all of course developed from the other slower, inaccurate and ancient means of communications (pigeons, parchments, etc.)

Then came telegrams, and telephones, and pagers and now mobiles. Mobiles are much more than calling and messaging. We have social media on our phones - Facebook, Twitter, Whatsapp, Instagram - and then specific chats for each of the brands of cellphones- iMessage on iPhones (Apple) and BBM for Blackberries (now universal) and even ChatOn for Samsung phones.

Amidst all this buzzing (pun intended), I am having a seriously difficult time in understanding why I have to be available to people 24/7. If someone sends me a message, am I obligated to reply to it straight away? What is there to be offended of if I choose to reply at a time when I want to reply instead of right away.

It's a huge issue now a days because everyone just picks up the phone and calls or sends a message through one of the apps straight away and by any chance if they see that their message has been 'seen' and not replied to - all hell breaks loose. I might like you; you might be my best friend but if I don't want to talk to you, you can't make me. I'd like to choose when I wish to converse with someone else no matter who you are. Honestly!

Is it just me or do other people feel this way too? I think that just because a message has arrived doesn't mean it needs to be read and just because I am online on facebook doesn't meant that I should have to talk to you.

I don't mean to be rude in anyway, I just like my liberty probably more than you do.

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