Hello. This is 6 Minute English from BBC Learning English.
I’m Neil.
And I’m Georgina
Can I ask you something, Georgina…?
Mm-mm-hmm.
Georgina? I said, I want to ask you something…
are you listening to me?!
Mm-hmm,
just a second, Neil, I’m texting a friend…
Ah, has this ever happened you?
Someone too busy texting to talk.
With the huge rise of mobile phones in recent decades,
communicating by text has become more and more popular
and scenes like this have become increasingly common.
…and send! There, all done!
Now, what were you saying, Neil?
In this programme, we’ll be investigating why people
often choose to text, instead of talk to the people in their lives.
We’ll be asking whether this popular form of communication
is changing how we interact with each other.
And, of course, we’ll be learning some related
vocabulary as well.
Now, Neil, what did you want to ask me?
My quiz question, Georgina, which is this.
Young people are often the biggest users of mobile phones,
but in a 2016 study, what percentage of British
teenagers said they would prefer to send a text
rather than speak to someone,
even if they were in the same room?
Is it: a) 9 percent?,
b) 49 percent?, or, c) 99 percent?
That sounds pretty shocking!
I can’t believe 99 percent of teenagers said that,
so I’ll guess b) 49 percent.
OK, Georgina. We’ll find out later if that’s right.
In one way, the popularity of texting, sometimes called
‘talking with thumbs’, is understandable - people like to
be in control of what they say.
But this low-risk way of hiding behind a screen may come
at a cost, as neuroscientist, Professor Sophie Scott,
explained to Sandra Kanthal, for BBC World Service
programme, The Why Factor:
When we ‘talk with our thumbs’ by text or email or
instant message, we’re often prioritising speed over clarity
and depth.
But when we can’t hear the way someone is speaking it’s all
too easy to misunderstand their intention.
So if I say a phrase like, ‘Oh shut up!’ -
has a different meaning than, ‘Oh shut up!’
There’s an emotional thing there but also a strong
kind of intonation: one’s sort of funny,
one’s just aggressive.
Written down it’s just aggressive – ‘Shut up!’
- and you can’t soften that. […] We always speak with melody
and intonation to our voice and we’ll change our meaning
depending on that.
You take that channel of information out of communication
you lose another way that sense is being conveyed.
When reading a text instead of listening to someone speak,
we miss out on the speaker’s intonation –
that’s the way the voice rises and falls when speaking.
Intonation, how a word is said, often changes
the meaning of words and phrases - small groups of words
people use to say something particular.
Reading a phrase like, ‘Oh shut up!’ in a text,
instead of hearing it spoken aloud, makes it
easy to misunderstand the speaker‘s intention –
their aim, or plan of what they want to do.
And it’s not just the speaker’s intention that we miss.
A whole range of extra information is conveyed
through speech, from the speaker’s age and gender
to the region they’re from.
Poet, Gary Turk, believes that we lose something
uniquely human when we stop talking.
And there are practical problems involved with texting too,
as he explains to BBC World Service’s, The Why Factor:
If you speak to someone in person and they don’t respond
right away, that would be rude.
But you might be speaking to someone in person
and someone texts you...
and it would be ruder for you then to stop that conversation
and speak to the person over text…
yet the person on the other side of the text is getting annoyed –
you haven’t responded right way – it’s like we’re
constantly now creating these situations using our phones
that allow us to like tread on mines –
no matter what you do, we’re going to disappoint people
because we’re trying to communicate in so many different ways.
Do you prioritise the person on the phone?
Would you prioritise the person you’re speaking to?
Who do you disappoint first?
You’re going to disappoint somebody.
So what should you do if a friend texts you when you’re
already speaking to someone else in person –
physically present, face to face?
You can’t communicate with both people at the same time,
so whatever you do someone will get annoyed –
become angry and upset.
Gary thinks that despite its convenience,
texting creates situations where we have to tread on mines,
another way of saying that something is a minefield,
meaning a situation full of hidden problems and dangers,
where people need to take care.
Yes, it’s easy to get annoyed when someone ignores you
to text their friend…
Oh, you’re not still upset about that are you, Neil?
Ha, it’s like those teenagers in my quiz question!
Remember I asked you how many teenagers
said they’d prefer to text someone,
even if they were in the same room.
I guessed it was b) 49 percent.
Which was… the correct answer!
I’m glad you were listening, Georgina, and not texting!
Ha ha! In this programme we’ve been discussing
ways in which texting differs from talking with someone in person
– or face to face.
Sending texts instead of having a conversation
means we don’t hear the speaker’s intonation –
the musical way their voice rises and falls.
A phrase - or small group of words - like ‘Oh shut up!’,
means different things when said in different ways.
Without intonation we can easily misunderstand a
text writer’s intention – their idea or plan of
what they are going to do.
Which in turns means they can get annoyed –
or become irritated, if you don’t understand
what they mean, or don’t respond right away.
All of which can create an absolute minefield –
a situation with many hidden problems,
where you need to speak and act carefully.
And that’s all we have time for in this programme,
but remember you can find more useful vocabulary,
trending topics and help with your language learning
here at BBC Learning English.
We also have an app that you can download for free
from the app stores and of course
we are all over social media. Bye for now!
Bye!