Analytical Writing

Communication
Victoria Hayes

When you get in touch with someone, in any shape, way or form, you are communicating. There are many different forms of communication, and they increase as the years go on. The oldest, most common form of communication is simply talking to someone face to face. What if you can’t get to that person? What if you live across town, or across state, or even across the world? How do you get in touch with someone who isn’t sitting right there next to you?

Want to find out how your dad in New York is doing? You can write him a letter. All it costs is the price of paper, an envelope, and maybe about 42 cents for a stamp. These days almost everyone knows how to write. The only thing you need to know is the address, although you have to put more then just the street and house number. You must know the street, house number, city, state, and zip code. You want to make sure it is sent exactly to the right house. When it comes to letters, especially the farther away you are, they may take a while to get there.

What would you do if you were having a family emergency and needed to get in touch with someone right away? There is a much faster form of communication: the land line phone. Depending on your plan with your phone company, you can talk to people right down the street from you, across town, or in a different state. It is quite simple to use a land line phone; all you need to know is the ten digits of their phone number. You pick up the phone, push the talk button and dial the number. It is as simple as 1, 2, 3. The only disadvantage? What do you do if you’re running out and about and need to get in touch with someone? Maybe to tell them you’re on the way to their house or to even get directions to their house? Well, this is where cell phones come into mind.

Depending on the type of cell phone you have, it can be more difficult to understand and use. For my generation, it’s just common sense, but for some of our parents, or especially grandparents, who are used to old fashioned telephones, it may be a little harder to understand. They never press the right buttons and never know where to go, or even how to set up their own voicemail. All in all, it is simply like a land line phone on the go. When using a cell phone you can talk to someone without having to be at home. Only with many more features. If you just want to simply get in touch with people while you are gone, then all you have to do is add their number into your phone and click on their name whenever you want to call them. It is a much simpler way to store your numbers instead of keeping a planner or phone directory. My family and I don’t even own a house phone anymore; we all use cell phones. If you want to use other forms of communication with your phone, that’s possible too. Have you ever been in a situation where you need to tell someone something, but for some reason can’t actually talk on the phone? That’s where texting comes in handy.

Texting is by far my favorite form of communication. Your cell phone, like a house phone has numbers on it. On most common cell phones, it’s set up 1-9 3x3 down and across and 0 at the bottom. On these numbers are letters and symbols. For example 1 has symbols, 2 has ABC, 3 has DEF and so forth. So say you want to quickly tell someone something but don’t have the time to call, or maybe you just simply don’t feel like talking, then you can text. You just find the messaging section in you phone and create a new message. You can type in a number, email, or pick a name out of your contact list. Then, you can text them whatever you needed to tell them. The order in which the letters are is the number of times you click on the number. For example, if you want to type a b then you will press the 2 button two times, as fast as possible. The better you are the faster and easier a way of communicating this is.

Another more common form of communication is instant messaging. Instant messaging sprung off of email. Email providers such as Yahoo, MSN, and AOL, thought of a faster form of communication than simple email. Basically, it is just like email, only instant. You don’t have to wait for the person to check their email read it and respond. You simply add them to your messenger list using their messenger ID, which in most cases is the same as their email ID. Once they are added, all you have to do is click on their name when it says they are online, a box will appear where you can type and send messages back and forth. This is my second favorite form of communication. It’s fast and efficient. Although not very affective if you want someone to know something right away, if they aren’t online, you’re out of luck.

There are millions of forms of communication today, and it seems they are only growing. Now the different forms of communication seem to be coming into one. Now on your cell phone you can access the internet and you can chat with friends on websites such as MySpace or Facebook. You can also text people’s cell phones for free from your email or instant messaging program. Communication is one of the most important aspects in any relationship you have with another human being. Whether it be your parent or relative, a best friend, or a significant other, communicating is what makes the relationship stay strong and alive. These days, you have no excuse for not getting in touch with someone, the options are practically endless!