Question of the night - Does certain technology (specifically text messaging) make people more social?  The theory I’ve always assumed is that the insertion of text messaging systems into society tends to separate people and make them more distant by removing a sense of interaction and personality and instead allow people to interact without repercussions of the standard conversational experience.  But can this in turn make people more willing to interact?  For an example using text messaging - I can send out a message to numerous people inviting them to some event.  I can send this in mass and without concern of getting blatantly turned down.  If somebody doesn’t want to go, they just don’t reply.  Furthermore, I don’t have to go to the trouble of initiating a conversation with several people and face being rejected in person.  What’s easier?  Taking the effort to call somebody and form a coherent conversation on the spur of the moment or send them a text message that’s been carefully thought out and initiate a non-real-time conversation that allows you to contemplate your replies.

A lot of what got me started thinking about this is services like Dodgeball. Dodgeball is a service that sends a text message to your “friends” when you send a text message to the service indicating an establishment that you’re currently at.  Although huge in Seattle, it is not nearly as popular in Chicago.  But it is a great service that allows you to catch up with your “friends” with minimal effort.  Pretty cool, if you ask me.

That’s all the speculation for this evening.  I’m still stealing Internet from Tully’s.  Comcast comes to my house for the third time tomorrow - hopefully the third time is the charm.  Installing cable in a house is a slightly more complex process than in an apartment building. ;o)