The silent treatment

Guys, we need to talk – or do we?

On Wednesday, I finally became eligible to upgrade my phone, so I opted for Google's Nexus 4 smartphone. (Apparently, in the spirit of Pokemon, I "gotta catch 'em all" when it comes to Google devices.) In the past few days, I've used the phone to do the following:

• Send and receive 29 text messages
• Check my email
• Browse and post to several social-networking sites
• Chat on AOL Instant Messenger
• Search the Web
• Listen to music
• Play games
• Read posts on a gaming forum
• Read the digital version of my local newspaper
• Take about a dozen photos
• Record a video of my pets (because the Internet can never have too many cat videos)

Only this morning, when I heard the unfamiliar sounds of a new default ringtone, did it hit me: I hadn't actually used my phone to take any calls – or place them – yet.

According to a recent TIME magazine poll, that's not so unusual these days: Americans in the 18- to 29-year-old age bracket "send and receive an average of nearly 88 text messages per day, compared to 17 phone calls" (Kluger, 2012, para. 5). The poll also found that "32% of all respondents said they'd rather communicate by text than phone, even with people they know very well" (Kluger, 2012, para. 5). 

But perhaps Troy from NBC's Community explained it best:

Figure 1. In this video clip from Season 3, Episode 15 of the NBC comedy Community, Troy says of Britta, "She was born in the '80s. She still uses her phone as a phone" (Harmon & Tsuchida, 2012).

What this means for libraries is this: It's important to keep up with this growing mobile technology. According to a recent Pew Internet & American Life Project survey, about 13% of Americans over 16 years old have used mobile technology to access library services/websites (Rainie, Zickuhr, & Duggan, 2012). In another study of online chat and text-messaging reference services, employees from various sizes and types of libraries said their libraries received anywhere from 350-1,500 chats per month, with 0.5%-25% of those chats taking place via text message (Frantz & Tucker-Raymond, 2011).

Impersonal? Maybe – but this seems to be the direction communication is headed.

References

Frantz, P., & Tucker-Raymond, C. (2011). Integrating text messaging into reference services. Library Hi Tech News, 28(5), 8-9. doi: http://dx.doi.org/10.1108/07419051111163839

Harmon, D. (Writer), & Tsuchida, S. K. (Director). (2012). Origins of vampire mythology [Television series episode]. In D. Harmon (Executive producer), Community. New York, NY: National Broadcasting Company. Retrieved from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Sd8uJswc2Tc

Kluger, J. (2012, August 16). We never talk anymore: The problem with text messaging. TIME. Retrieved from http://techland.time.com/2012/08/16/we-never-talk-anymore-the-problem-with-text-messaging/

Rainie, L, Zickuhr, K., & Duggan, M. (2012). Mobile connections to libraries. Pew Research Center's Internet & American Life Project. Retrieved from http://libraries.pewinternet.org/2012/12/31/mobile-connections-to-libraries/