Comments on: Text Messaging & the Church’s Need to Re-Evaluate Effective Means of Communication http://rhettsmith.com/2008/12/text-messaging-the-churchs-need-to-re-evaluate-effective-means-of-communication/ Thu, 10 May 2012 14:59:38 +0000 hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v= By: Rhett Smith http://rhettsmith.com/2008/12/text-messaging-the-churchs-need-to-re-evaluate-effective-means-of-communication/comment-page-1/#comment-3441 Rhett Smith Sat, 13 Dec 2008 13:23:12 +0000 http://www.rhettsmith.com/?p=1495#comment-3441 Thanks for all the comments everyone. You help provide me some new thoughts and insights. @John, maybe we are splitting hairs, but I'm not talking about taking a technology device and humanizing it...I'm talking about how we maintain our humanness amidst all our technology use. Like providing the human touch as Ben mentioned...face to face conversations when we can do it, instead of using tech, etc. I think we are going to have to wrestle with this as more and more things are done technology wise...I'm not suggesting we create a race of cyborgs, though I'm sure people are thinking about that. If we are on FB, Twitter, blogs...all day long...how do we not let those things rob us of our sense of what it means to be human? That's what I'm wondering and concerned about. Marcus...right on about the subscription model...pulled content I think it's also referred to (not sure though)...email is killer to people, especially as we get masses of forwarded, unwanted email. rhett Thanks for all the comments everyone. You help provide me some new thoughts and insights.

@John, maybe we are splitting hairs, but I’m not talking about taking a technology device and humanizing it…I’m talking about how we maintain our humanness amidst all our technology use. Like providing the human touch as Ben mentioned…face to face conversations when we can do it, instead of using tech, etc. I think we are going to have to wrestle with this as more and more things are done technology wise…I’m not suggesting we create a race of cyborgs, though I’m sure people are thinking about that.

If we are on FB, Twitter, blogs…all day long…how do we not let those things rob us of our sense of what it means to be human? That’s what I’m wondering and concerned about.

Marcus…right on about the subscription model…pulled content I think it’s also referred to (not sure though)…email is killer to people, especially as we get masses of forwarded, unwanted email.

rhett

]]> By: John (Human3rror) http://rhettsmith.com/2008/12/text-messaging-the-churchs-need-to-re-evaluate-effective-means-of-communication/comment-page-1/#comment-3440 John (Human3rror) Sat, 13 Dec 2008 06:11:40 +0000 http://www.rhettsmith.com/?p=1495#comment-3440 humanity + tech = cyborg. and that's what we don't want. humanity + tech = cyborg.

and that’s what we don’t want.

]]> By: Ben Lemery http://rhettsmith.com/2008/12/text-messaging-the-churchs-need-to-re-evaluate-effective-means-of-communication/comment-page-1/#comment-3439 Ben Lemery Sat, 13 Dec 2008 05:33:46 +0000 http://www.rhettsmith.com/?p=1495#comment-3439 Excellent article Rhett, I am actually going to use this within the company that I work for and how we can reach out to students who are apart of the scholarship program here. I do not text nearly at the amount I could because it feels impersonal. I got into Twitter because you got into it, haha. It is ok and a good way to communicate different thoughts, news articles, etc., but still it is impersonal. Online chat is more personal, as you and I have had some minimal conversations on facebook. But all in all, nothing beats face to face conversations. I would give up texting and twitter and even email if I could sit down for an hour and clearly convey ideas and see/hear a persons emotions in what they are attempting to communicate. Becoming a bullet-point generation allows us to just make ideas good but not great because we end up always looking forward to the next best thing. Excellent article Rhett, I am actually going to use this within the company that I work for and how we can reach out to students who are apart of the scholarship program here.

I do not text nearly at the amount I could because it feels impersonal. I got into Twitter because you got into it, haha. It is ok and a good way to communicate different thoughts, news articles, etc., but still it is impersonal.

Online chat is more personal, as you and I have had some minimal conversations on facebook.

But all in all, nothing beats face to face conversations. I would give up texting and twitter and even email if I could sit down for an hour and clearly convey ideas and see/hear a persons emotions in what they are attempting to communicate.

Becoming a bullet-point generation allows us to just make ideas good but not great because we end up always looking forward to the next best thing.

]]> By: Cal Morton http://rhettsmith.com/2008/12/text-messaging-the-churchs-need-to-re-evaluate-effective-means-of-communication/comment-page-1/#comment-3438 Cal Morton Sat, 13 Dec 2008 03:52:40 +0000 http://www.rhettsmith.com/?p=1495#comment-3438 Pardon my intrusion, however I couldn't help but to contribute a quick post. There are many text messaging solutions onthe market better adapted to allow your constituents to opt-in and delivery messages more 'precisley' than twitter. You are correct, and although I've been in the biz of providing mobile consulting and applcations for more tan 6 years, I'm at a loss to explain the expotential growth in the U.S...now more than 80 Billion a month. It's personal, that's the key, and if always treated as such, your message will get through almost immediately. Regards, cal Pardon my intrusion, however I couldn’t help but to contribute a quick post. There are many text messaging solutions onthe market better adapted to allow your constituents to opt-in and delivery messages more ‘precisley’ than twitter.
You are correct, and although I’ve been in the biz of providing mobile consulting and applcations for more tan 6 years, I’m at a loss to explain the expotential growth in the U.S…now more than 80 Billion a month.
It’s personal, that’s the key, and if always treated as such, your message will get through almost immediately.
Regards,
cal

]]> By: Marcus Hackler http://rhettsmith.com/2008/12/text-messaging-the-churchs-need-to-re-evaluate-effective-means-of-communication/comment-page-1/#comment-3437 Marcus Hackler Fri, 12 Dec 2008 23:22:07 +0000 http://www.rhettsmith.com/?p=1495#comment-3437 I think this speaks to the trend of progressive communication. The biggest trend is on-demand (or subscription) based content. One of the reasons email is becoming less effective is that it can be penetrated by unwanted messages. As it stands now SMS and IM are immune (although not completely) to unwanted communication, but as this changes another form of custom communication will arise. Who knows what it will look like? I think this speaks to the trend of progressive communication. The biggest trend is on-demand (or subscription) based content. One of the reasons email is becoming less effective is that it can be penetrated by unwanted messages. As it stands now SMS and IM are immune (although not completely) to unwanted communication, but as this changes another form of custom communication will arise.

Who knows what it will look like?

]]>