locEmotion 3: Saturday 9.45pm
Well, i sent out an email in advance in the hope I could continue the little SMS experiment. Thank you again for your generosity in replying. I can't tell you how bizarre it was to get all these little sms in reply, to me, deep within the hellhole that was the Empire Hotel that night! It was a very odd feeling... taking the pulse of the night... Here they are in order.
xxxx6752: At star bar with work mates. Headache warning of potential hangover but the beer is so cheap! Wondering where boyfriend is. Oh, he just came. Oh well. Feel kinda down.
xxxx6405: I'm on my purple bed. I was praying and feeling perplexed. I was seeing what u see when u have ur eyes closed. Still perplexed and my throat hurts. Meh.
xxxx9805: the kransky sisters on sbs. my throat is dry and swollen, prone to dry coughs. perhaps i'm being punished by a greater power with a penchant for academic diligence.
xxxx6994: I'm at home. Sulking myself into a quiet saturday night in front of the tv. Feeling the guilt of not going to birthday drinks i was invited to.
xxxx9902: At empire, total mistake. Music all wrong, so bad its almost good. Gothabilly - how the hell did i end up here? Things i have to talk about with someone, later tonight... Feeling a bit worried but oddly free.
xxxx2260: I'm at the lansdowne with 2 aussie friends of mine. I'm staring at a juicy 5 dollar steak that i'm about to eat. I feel tonights going 2 be a good night.
xxxx8915: I'm at home, feeling hungover and sleepy. I can't wait to be asleep. I look around my room and see a trail of alcohol induced destruction.
xxxx4196: I'm at a family dinner, with my sisters dad and stepmother and their friends. We are having an awesome conversation about aliens creating humans...And now i am defending my use of the phone at dinner, doh! Just thinking about how nice it is to have family who might not be blood kin, but accept you as if you were..Aw.. Oh no, i have sparked debate over predictive text among the oldies, coupled with lessons on how to spell cat in half the time...
xxxx4785: I'm in canberra, i am drunk, everyone is dressed up as porn stars for a friend's 20th, tonight is fun hope i don't get sick!
xxxx8089: backseat driving down dew-covered blue quartz mountain/dancing blackdiamond light/hologram neons dressed in jewels/sparkling rhododendron/its his 8th birthday/he's dressed himself in a tiny suit with 'hidden pockets'/glowing/feeling all grown up/ we share a piece of rainbow cake/his little hand in mine/the look on his face enough to break my heart/stare out an open window/starshapes/blurry
xxxx3039: Sitting in the sun on sunday morning. Gorgeous day but feeling a bit flat. Drove my partner to a party last night. I didn't feel up to socialising.
posted by megan h @ 10:43 PM
25 Comments:
Thanks yet again everyone.. i guess some of the things that strike me after doing this is
a) it really seems to show that people are much more fragile and sensitive than we outwardly appear to be ( is this everyone or just all of us 'cause we are reflective arty/ writer types...) what do you think?
b) it kinda makes me feel more connected with all of you... which just goes to prove that mobiles are not necessarily antisocial, as many people think.
I'm real glad i sent out that email asking permission re another sms... especially since emma's folks were a bit taken aback...!
keen to know what you all think about it?? see ya, m
I think it's been an interesting experiment. Maybe we can chat in the last class about how we can do something with the idea?
It does reveal a lot about people - what Megan said about mobiles is certainly not true. Is so few words, such a lot has been said, and so many images created in all of our minds. And maybe we are closer (aww).
I mentioned in a reply to the last one that the ppl I was with thought that getting an sms at that time was invasive and rude. It's interesting that people use their phones so differently - older people especially see mobiles as a lesser communication device, while others use it as a primary contact tool. This experiment has shown that mobiles can actually serve as quite personal ways to communicate with one another.
Was fun anyway!
Em
absolutely we can chat about where to go from here in the last class. some of you may wish to pick up on it... or keep collaborating...
oh, and i hope emma's folks don't think i'm a weirdo!
whoops I mean what Megan said about phones was true D'oh.
Meh...
great to see everyone's responses. this has evolved into a worthwhile project (kudos to Megan for proposing, and putting into practice. the concept in the first place!). I would definatley be up to continue it as an ongoing, larger 'collection' of writing.
p.s Megan - I'm guessing you meant the empire in annandale rather then the empire in kings X ?? (a gothabiliy band would be more suited to the former...)
ryan's concept of a larger 'work' has got me thinking. It would be interesting to collaborate a bunch of these into a book in chronological order. Perhaps come up with moniker's rather than numbers, see how much is revealed about someone's life through sms.
unfortunately, the privacy issues could be unbearable.
Maybe at the end of semester we should all have a drink at the clare and work out if and how to continue on. i'd be happy to keep going, but i don't know if i want to continue being the "voice of god" ( or perhaps voice of the nurturing goddess!!) asking how you all are... Maybe that role could rotate amongst those who want to continue.. I must say though its pretty wild when all the answers come through.
If i do send another sms ( and i don't know if i will at this point) and you don't wanna respond, just don't.
ps ryan yes it was the annandale empire. why on earth did i go? I'm sure i knew it would be the pits!! deliberate amnesia perhaps...
Hrm, the idea of it being rotational is good, as long as those involved had an inbox large enough to get all the msgs (I know mine doesn't, but my phone is just a wee bit crapulent lol) and people weren't too slack with replies.
I guess we'll work it out. I really like the idea of continuing, but we would probably have to come up with guidelines :( re: privacy issues.
Looking forward to having the chance to discuss it, anyway!
Em
would be cool to hang out in last week - count me - who's buying? ;)
I suppose at uni we are concentrating on thoughts about our uni work (mostly?), whereas when we respond to the sms's we are continuing on with the other spheres of our lives . . . comes down to the idea that ppl only know you from the glimpses they get of you . . . so therefore can anyone really know you?
Interesting concept of a larger work. Count me in. Also perhaps drinks at the Clare wud allow us further glimpses into each other's lives ? He he he.
shiv, you just pretty much summed up the point of my final work! :)
the concept that glimpses are what make you "know someone" and the culmination of such create identity, but also with that comes the concept that no-one really "knows" anyone.
It's interesting to see how people feel about these SMS's, i think sometimes you think you're putting something personal out to Megan, and ultimately on the net, but when you read it, if we don't "know" you, how much are you really revealing?
I think i think too much.
Oh, and Emma just informed me that we haven't answered Megan's ("Voice of the Nurturing Goddess"?) questions... so...
a) yeah i do agree, everyone has their shells, i can't say that this exercise made me realise that more than i already knew, but it is interesting to see the connection between the person in class and the person in reality :)
b) I agree, mobiles aren't antisocial! they're expensive
This comment has been removed by a blog administrator.
I posted this as another user. Sorry.
I guess it depends on what your self-image is. If you are a very private person, then I guess you only show little bits of yourself at a time...
Personally, I find that there are few things I don't share - that everything about me is accessible, and I'm happy to share it, if the time is right. Some things have just happened which have meant I have had to be totally revealing, so it doesn't scare me anymore.
I assume, as I get older and gain different memories and moments (good and bad) that I might bind myself up again... It's all in personality, I guess.
And this kinda goes back to megans q about us being "reflective arty/writer types. I think because we are all so creative, and think so much, there is so much to reveal about ourselves, and perhaps we are more sensitive. Does that make me less revealing and therefore a lesser person?.. Perhaps...
I used to think a lot, but then I met others who thought as much as I do, and I kind of gave up for some reason. Maybe that's why I don't totally agree with you guys. Because I've become shallow, pfft.
:)
Em
oh yeah- i stopped allowing anonymous posts because of spam / bot posting...
Those bots are crazy! Why doesn't it happen on LJ?
Who knows
Em
Heres a thought that might be related to the discussion of 'intrusiveness', did anyone, like me, recieve Megans message and initially think 'Shit! insane ex-boyfiend!' for no reason but for the fact that the questions were so direct? I dont even have an insane ex-boyfriend and I still leaped to the conclusion that that sort of message was bad news, before then remembering why I had recieved it.
That brings me to question how I feel about what some of you have been discussing, whether sms allows us to free up our expression with other people or distance ourselves further? In my experience, SMS is characterised by 'R U OUT?' sort of texts, or 'What R U doing 2nite' stuff: the sort of stuff that absolves the sender from any sort of emotional investment in what is effectively an invitation to join them in whatever activity they are up to. When I got Megans message,briefly forgetting why I had gotten it, I was confronted by it's direct nature, because to me, sms culture doesnt increase communication, it minimalises it:
in other words, because you can say anything, you say nothing.
Obviously my point is long winded, but let me hear your thoughts on it.
i can't say i have any recollection of fearing a crazy ex boyfriend, as they pose little threat to me! it's the girl's current boyfriends that I gotta watch out for. ;)
On a more serious note, i didn't think 'crazy ex girlfriend' even though i have one who may pose such questions, but that could be due to the fact that i have Megan labelled in my phone as locEmotion so i saw it coming.
nevertheless, i was taken aback (as explained in my comment) and the directness of the message may have something to do with that.
But i think it has to do with what kind of person you are. I view them as friendly gestures of interest, rather than interrogation. Sure, it's a little over the top, but where's the fun in 'Yo Holly! sup girl? How ya bin?"
the free use of such a medium, does allow a lot of junk to go on. On that point, i agree. Because i can post on this blog with minimal financial or time investment, I can post 4 paragraphs of nothing before finally answering your question...
Sure, There's a lot of junk flying around between phones, but does that deny us the use of the medium for a higher level communication? There's plenty of hallmark cards out there, but people still write poetry. There are symphonies being composed while R'n'B rules the charts.
I'm not challenging anyone to change their perceptions of the technology, everybody is different. But in a long line of misused communication devices, perhaps it is up to us (and captain planet) to teach the world?
Have i proved your point?
"in other words, because you can say anything, you say nothing."
I think it depends who you are as to HOW you use sms communication. Personally, I always end up using my credit too fast because I send the messages instead of calling people, just so i can explain everything in minute detail ;) Probably because i am just a compulsive communicator, I guess, and I don't mind sending massive messages.
I see messages as an alternative to a phone call- silent, maybe mysterious, even more personal because it doesn't intrude into the spoken realms,its almost direct mind-to-mind. And unlike a letter, its instantaneous, from your hand to theirs. Plus, you can message someone and do something else at the same time, you have time to wait for the reciprocal message etc...
But obviously it totally depends. Since it does create the possibility for shortening communication, those who are short with words will always take advantage, no wrongly, of that fact.
Reply to Holly, Sam and Emma -
I didn't find the language particularly intrusive however I think if you don't have the number in your phone it is a little odd and perplexing at first - I have had a mobile stalker as Sam knows, and it was really annoying getting those messages so it brings back those stalker memories until I realise Megan has better things to say than "mystery is the key" (stalker quote).
I agree with Emma on this one, because I send various sms's to avoid using the phone (expense)as well, so I'm used to sending and receiving heartfelt texts.
I would probably think sms was decreasing communication if I used it in another way (like for minimal questions eg 'sup?'). But I still stand by the fact that sms can be a medium to explore communication on the same level as email, and before that, (if shorter) letters.
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cheers
Ryan
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