News Regarding the Center
Don't Want to Talk? New Service Sells Missed Calls
New York Times
August 02, 2008
The technology, called Slydial, lets callers dial a mobile phone but avoid an unwanted conversation - or unwanted intimacy - on the other end. The incoming call goes undetected by the recipient, who simply receives the traditional blinking light or ping that indicates that a voice mail message has been received. . . .
The concept may sound antithetical to a digital era defined by ubiquitous communication and interactivity, but Slydial turns out to be only the latest in a breed of new technologies that fit squarely into an emerging paradox: tools that let users avoid direct communication.
Technologies like e-mailing and blogging give the communicator the power to choose the time and manner of expression. Now, some academics, text
messagers and creators of technologies say a trend has emerged: We are constantly just missing one another - on purpose. . .
Unlike text messaging or e-mailing, James Katz, head of the center for mobile communications studies at Rutgers University, said, telephone communiqués had been seen as requiring a sacrifice of time and energy and a higher level of commitment on the part of the communicator. Not anymore.
Missed or indirect communication can often actually be preferable, Mr. Katz said. "You pretend to be communicating, when you're actually
stifling communication," he said.
Slydial may turn out to be just a fad. Still, Mr. Katz understands why people may be tempted to use it. . . .
An array of recent innovations by other companies has encouraged the use of technology to deceive. One development, for instance, allows the employee who is running late to add background noises resembling heavy traffic to a mobile phone call. Another service places an automated call at a predetermined time so that the recipient can be extricated from a situation (a work meeting, or bad date) under the auspices of taking the
"urgent" call.
"A phone conversation is like wildfire - you don't know where it's going to go," he said.
|
