Why Westerners Text More Than They Call?!

People text (or write emails) because it gives them control over the amount of time spent ... and if you're delivering bad news, you're not 'facing' the person.

As for canceling an appt. via email, that's just RUDE (and why God invented sms lol).

I know there are times when SMSs is more appropriate than phone calls, i.e. texting someone whom you suppose are at work or in a meeting, but why Arabs don't text that often. Is it because that don't care about the amount of time/money spent? Is it because they are more social? My Arab friends/relatives and I contact each others by phone calls as we see it shows more respect and interest. We don't care about spending one or a couple more hundreds SAR a month.
And when it happens that one of us is busy and can't take a call, we just reject the call and call back as soon as we can.

Aminstar2 wrote:

I know there are times when SMSs is more appropriate than phone calls, i.e. texting someone whom you suppose are at work or in a meeting, but why Arabs don't text that often. Is it because that don't care about the amount of time/money spent? Is it because they are more social? My Arab friends/relatives and I contact each others by phone calls as we see it shows more respect and interest. We don't care about spending one or a couple more hundreds SAR a month.
And when it happens that one of us is busy and can't take a call, we just reject the call and call back as soon as we can.

I can't speak for every westerner, but for me it's about time, not money.  Don't get me wrong, I do make social calls to talk.  But if I'm just delivering a small bit of information and don't want to get tied up in a conversation, texting suffices.

Alliecat wrote:

I can't speak for every westerner, but for me it's about time, not money.  Don't get me wrong, I do make social calls to talk.  But if I'm just delivering a small bit of information and don't want to get tied up in a conversation, texting suffices.

Here I agree! and I see what you mean, a proper usage of texting!

Aminstar2 wrote:

Alliecat wrote:

I can't speak for every westerner, but for me it's about time, not money.  Don't get me wrong, I do make social calls to talk.  But if I'm just delivering a small bit of information and don't want to get tied up in a conversation, texting suffices.

Here I agree! and I see what you mean, a proper usage of texting!

And you know something else?  I prefer it when somebody texts ME information because it saves me the  trouble of writing it down and I can refer to it when I need to.

Alliecat wrote:

And you know something else?  I prefer it when somebody texts ME information because it saves me the  trouble of writing it down and I can refer to it when I need to.

I see.

My main topic was texting for social reasons i.e. suggesting appointments and that needs discussion between the two parties involved to come up with an appointment that suits both parties.

One more thing to mention: Saudis spend the 10-15 seconds of a phone call asking each other "how they are" in several different forms which non-Saudis or Westerners think a waste of time.

Aminstar2 wrote:

One more thing to mention: Saudis spend the 10-15 seconds of a phone call asking each other "how they are" in several different forms which non-Saudis or Westerners think a waste of time.

Interesting that you say this since usually people are complaining about Saudi's lack of concern about time

Aminstar2 wrote:

One more thing to mention: Saudis spend the 10-15 seconds of a phone call asking each other "how they are" in several different forms which non-Saudis or Westerners think a waste of time.

Beleive me it's more than 15 second specially when meeting group of people !!

i HATE talking on the phone

If im in the middle doing something, i have to stop everything, hold a 5-10 minute conversation.  Whereas with text, i can break it up while doing whatever im doing.
family, Wife, good friends call. Everyone else gets a text.

Freshlikesushi wrote:

i HATE talking on the phone

If im in the middle doing something, I have to stop everything, hold a 5-10 minute conversation.  Whereas with text, i can break it up while doing whatever im doing.
family, Wife, good friends call. Everyone else gets a text.

I think that is why some Westerners prefer to text, and that makes sense, but we, Arabs, still prefer phone calls as that shows more respect.

I usually have phone calls that last for less than two minutes, and sometimes, just 30-45 seconds.

with all due respect, other than phones, Arabs are not technilogically inclined as a culture. ESPECIALLY Saudi arabia compared to the modern world.
Due to the LARGE prevelance of Twitter, facebook, and other items which encourage communication via text forms, individuals nowadays are influenced by the convenience of not having to have a physical phone number to get ahold of people.  Most of my communication on my phone is via facebook chat, or twitter or other social network service.
Different cultures is all it is.

isnt a fault, just a general fact of society.

Most often than not, I have seen Local people talking on the cellphones while driving. As if, this is mandatory while driving same like wearing a seat belt.

Also have seen people (men & women) in the malls glued to the mobile fone's screen and walking like a zombie in the malls !!!

for me I prefer text.
1- I can refer to it  as ( Alliecat ) said.
2- keep some information  like ( phone numbers - emails - names of agents - address ... appointment etc ).
3- understanding difficulty ( when I need speak to someone I dont understand him for ( language - accent - bad network )
4- not answering - not available.
5- someone talkative sorry but there are some people who like to have long talk and deep details.

note: text or call not that matter for cost reason.
Arabs dont use phone call less than a minute especially ( how are you topic ). I agree with ( Creative85 )

I hope one day all people use text 90% for our daily usage, 10% calls for special people like ( mum, dad , relatives, family )

Thats my opinion.

I text because is fast, cheap, accurate and give me more privacy when I'm in public. Calls are basically for business purposes or if the topic is too complex to write in.

I agree with tryfly2 and juangcr.

I don't make calls when my message can be clearly communicated by sending a simple text message.

Text messaging can be preferred for providing information. But when I start sending and receiving many messages on the same topic, I would end up making a call.
And when it comes to official matters, my experience says it's better to make a call, especially when it comes to seniors / Department Heads. A lot of it depends on the other person too.

Alliecat wrote:

Aminstar2 wrote:

One more thing to mention: Saudis spend the 10-15 seconds of a phone call asking each other "how they are" in several different forms which non-Saudis or Westerners think a waste of time.

Interesting that you say this since usually people are complaining about Saudi's lack of concern about time

And that is why they waste it!

Freshlikesushi wrote:

with all due respect, other than phones, Arabs are not technilogically inclined as a culture. ESPECIALLY Saudi arabia compared to the modern world.
Due to the LARGE prevelance of Twitter, facebook, and other items which encourage communication via text forms, individuals nowadays are influenced by the convenience of not having to have a physical phone number to get ahold of people.  Most of my communication on my phone is via facebook chat, or twitter or other social network service.
Different cultures is all it is.

isnt a fault, just a general fact of society.

Talking about Saudis -and not Arabs in gerneral nor all Sauids- Saudis want to get the cutting edge technologies, but they don't want to bother to learn how to use it or benefit from it. i.e. they buy the latest iPhone 4S 64GB, but they use it for only phone calls, and recently for WahtsApp.

saimans wrote:

Most often than not, I have seen Local people talking on the cellphones while driving. As if, this is mandatory while driving same like wearing a seat belt.

Also have seen people (men & women) in the malls glued to the mobile fone's screen and walking like a zombie in the malls !!!

Extremists and irresponsible!

ghanshyampdave wrote:

I agree with tryfly2 and juangcr.

I don't make calls when my message can be clearly communicated by sending a simple text message.

Text messaging can be preferred for providing information. But when I start sending and receiving many messages on the same topic, I would end up making a call.
And when it comes to official matters, my experience says it's better to make a call, especially when it comes to seniors / Department Heads. A lot of it depends on the other person too.

I take it this way (in the order of effectiveness):

EMail >> SMS >> Call >> One-to-One meet up >> Official Meeting

Based on the situation, I have to decide what media to choose. Of course, it'a not always necessary to be MAXIMUM effective.

tryfly2 wrote:

for me I prefer text.
1- I can refer to it  as ( Alliecat ) said.
2- keep some information  like ( phone numbers - emails - names of agents - address ... appointment etc ).
3- understanding difficulty ( when I need speak to someone I dont understand him for ( language - accent - bad network )
4- not answering - not available.
5- someone talkative sorry but there are some people who like to have long talk and deep details.

I agree with the above usuages of texting, but:

note: text or call not that matter for cost reason.
Arabs dont use phone call less than a minute especially ( how are you topic ). I agree with ( Creative85 )

I hope one day all people use text 90% for our daily usage, 10% calls for special people like ( mum, dad , relatives, family )

Thats my opinion.

I think that texting 90% for our daily usage is a bit exaggerated as when we have things to discuss, texting looks ridiculous ans so uninteractive. i.e. giving directions, setting an appointment.

ghanshyampdave wrote:

I agree with tryfly2 and juangcr.

I don't make calls when my message can be clearly communicated by sending a simple text message.

Text messaging can be preferred for providing information. But when I start sending and receiving many messages on the same topic, I would end up making a call.
And when it comes to official matters, my experience says it's better to make a call, especially when it comes to seniors / Department Heads. A lot of it depends on the other person too.

I totally agree!

personally i would like to go for texting, it's way better

you know here in Saudi as ppl said here

we are taking too much time asking for each other, not only each other.

it goes like: how are you? are you ok? are you sure? and how's your father?your mother,brother,family,Neighbors,all ppl that you? ARE YOU SURE ALL OF THEM  ARE  FINE?

then me i have to say the same to him, and so on.

the truth is,, these kind of talk taking more than 10 mins, while the main subject will not take more than 30 sec.



but things changed now, it's like 90% of people here have smart phone like BlackBerry and Iphone, so they are talking to each other from texting.

Komsee wrote:

but things changed now, it's like 90% of people here have smart phone like BlackBerry and Iphone, so they are talking to each other from texting.

It's good IFF it doesn't turn into chatting. Someone blogged here some time back that he happended to notice a newly wed couple travelling to Dammam via train. For 5 long hours, they didn't talk even a word to each other and had been busy in their blackberries. I guess they were chatting with each other .

TheLegendLeads wrote:

Komsee wrote:

but things changed now, it's like 90% of people here have smart phone like BlackBerry and Iphone, so they are talking to each other from texting.

It's good IFF it doesn't turn into chatting. Someone blogged here some time back that he happended to notice a newly wed couple travelling to Dammam via train. For 5 long hours, they didn't talk even a word to each other and had been busy in their blackberries. I guess they were chatting with each other .

Extremists! They do things exaggeratingly! They misuse the technology!

Texting is becoming popular due to messagings services like BBM, iMessage, Whatsapp and Viber etc. Its cheaper then normal calls and very popular in youngsters specially in west where you can buy unlimited text bundles at very low price. With some apps you can send your location to friends. You can also send pictures or a audio message.

@RehabDoctor.
You are right, but we, Arabs, think its more respectful and interactive to call than to text,  though the young Arabs nowadays text a lot which older people see it less respectful and inappropriate.

RehabDoctor wrote:

Texting is becoming popular due to messagings services like BBM, iMessage, Whatsapp and Viber etc. Its cheaper then normal calls and very popular in youngsters specially in west where you can buy unlimited text bundles at very low price. With some apps you can send your location to friens. You can send pictures or a audio message.

That's right. Just like the Flickr example: The most images being uploaded there today are taken from iPhones. That doesn't mean iPhone cameras are better than even the traditional DSLRs. No way. It's all because of the convenience of a single click to upload images right to Flickr.

The same goes for text messaging. They are very handy & so very popular; however not necessarily the best.

@TTL
Like!

IMPORTANT NOTE: Several publications have reported that 31% of US adults prefer to be contacted via text message. In fact, this question was asked of cell phone owners who use text messaging, and 31% of these text messaging users prefer to be contacted via text when someone needs to reach them.

Some 83% of American adults own cell phones and three-quarters of them (73%) send and receive text messages. The Pew Research Center's Internet & American Life Project asked those texters in a survey how they prefer to be contacted on their cell phone and 31% said they preferred texts to talking on the phone, while 53% said they preferred a voice call to a text message. Another 14% said the contact method they prefer depends on the situation.

Heavy text users are much more likely to prefer texting to talking. Some 55% of those who exchange more than 50 messages a day say they would rather get a text than a voice call.

Young adults are the most avid texters by a wide margin. Cell owners between the ages of 18 and 24 exchange an average of 109.5 messages on a normal day—that works out to more than 3,200 texts per month—and the typical or median cell owner in this age group sends or receives 50 messages per day (or 1500 messages per month).

Overall, the survey found that both text messaging and phone calling on cell phones have leveled off for the adult population as a whole. Text messaging users send or receive an average of 41.5 messages on a typical day, with the median user sending or receiving 10 texts daily – both figures are largely unchanged from what we reported in 2010. Similarly, cell owners make or receive an average of 12 calls on their cells per day, which is unchanged from 2010.
About the Survey

These results come from a nationally representative phone survey of 2,277 adults ages 18 and older conducted from April 26-May 22, 2011, including 755 cell phone interviews. The margin of error for the whole survey is +/-2.3 percentage points, while the margin of error for cell phone users is +/-2.7 percentage points.

copied from http://pewinternet.org/Reports/2011/Cel … -2011.aspx

@wilson_derry
Thanks for the info!