6 Jun
2012
6 Jun
'12
3:08 p.m.
On 6 June 2012 15:50, Holm Tiffe <holm at freibergnet.de> wrote:
Hmm, it seems, that I don't even need something like IRC..
I do have a phone flaterate, it is much less hassle to call the person on
the phone...
Oh come now, don't be silly.
You can't readily talk to dozens of different people at once, all over
the world, free of charge, including possibly people who are deaf or
who can read and write a common language but not speak it, using a
single phone call. And even if you could, you could not realistically
remain present in said conference-call, occasionally interacting with
it, while you went ahead with other tasks at the same time.
This is like the Luddite friends of mine who refuse to use social
networks or email and complain that I could just phone them when I
want to invite them to an event.
I commonly invite a couple of hundred people at once to events. I
cannot do that by phoning them all; even emailing them all is a major
pain. This is the sort of thing social networks excel at.
You don't have to use them; feel free not to. But my friend who refuse
to are, by and large, friends who I do not invite to things.
They don't have to use the socnets, but equally, I do not have to
waste hours of my time and lots of money individually contacting those
people who refuse to use nasty modern tools.
I could also write letters to those who can't or won't use nasty
modern telephones. I could personally visit those who won't use the
post. I could arrange the event somewhere with car parking for those
who will not use public transport; I could be sure to arrange it in
walking distance for those who will not use wheeled vehicles.
Yes, I know of people who refuse all these things.
But I am not going to do it. *They* expect *me* to go to special
lengths because of *their* idiosyncratic, non-conformist preferences
and neophobia.
Well, no. There is no single point at which you can draw a line and
say, up to this point is reasonable, but beyond it is unreasonable.
Socnets are just a tool - a free and easy one. Sure, don't use them if
you don't want, but in doing so you must accept that you are going to
miss out on lots of stuff. That's fine - it's your choice. But it is
not fair or acceptable to ask others to go out of their way or to
endure inconvenience to satisfy your whimsical preferences.
--
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