Slashdot Mirror
Why Video Calling Is a Wasted Feature In the UK
An anonymous reader writes "Technology affects the way we live but sociocultural influences also dictate what technology we absorb into our day-to-day lives. Take video calling on the iPhone 4 for example; it was pitched as an impressive feature, but will people adopt it? According to one British writer, the UK is unlikely to start making lots of video calls because it's awkward and, well, not very British. 'It's not the way we look when we say them, but the way we say them in order to inject the most bile into a negative statement. Or, on our more enthusiastic days, finding the most wryly witty way to say something while indicating that you couldn't really care less about it. This is the reason we've taken so well to Twitter and are better at watching than creating YouTube videos, to put it in sweepingly generic Internet terms.'"
We like to sneak up on such creatures and photograph them in their natural habitat; however, if there ever were a 'People of Tesco' page it would have enough Chavs to Walmart's fugly folk a run for their money.
An Education is the Font of All Liberty
Also, it might be good to know i've already deactivated my facebook account, without any qualms - after all, I had "ignored" 80% of people on there because... well - I don't want to hear about your baby's every bowel movement because you are extremely bored....
Boring people have boring friends. Thanks for the heads-up.
And two - its a breeding ground for ignorance. I always posted articles that I thought were.. thought provoking - very few people commented, but WATCH OUT if someone says "I'm going to have sushi for lunch."
Sounds more like apathy to me. MY friends tend to comment when I post some cool sci-tech news. Again, get better friends. But first, upgrade thyself, technician.
Maybe this whole thing is indicitive of something else, but I think it caters too much to the "me" generation... What are we calling them? Gen Z? I'll tell you right now, Gen Z doesn't want to look at people when they are talking to them, so good luck there apple - I think you just wasted money.
Your personal anecdotes cater to the "me" generation. Nobody cares what YOU think about failbook or video calling. You are clearly not in the majority. Many of us have used Facebook to reconnect with old friends who are interesting, and interested in what we have to say. Maybe you're just not interesting?
"You're right," Fisheye says. "I should have set it on 'whip' or 'chop.'"