📕 Part 1: Text messages

How often do you send text messages?

Only every now and then these days. Most of my messaging is handled by apps. Unless you count using those as texting, in which case I'm doing it all the time.

Do you reply to messages as soon as you receive them?

Well, actually, I have all my notifications and alerts turned off. So I'm not bothered by things like that when I'm working, or in general, really. I usually just answer them when I can. If it's an actual emergency, then people can always call me and I will definitely see that.

Did you send more messages when you were younger?

Absolutely! But there were fewer alternatives back then. We used to just send something like an SMS on our phones and that was it. It's different now with smartphones and near-constant internet connections. You can be messaging all the time.

Is sending messages popular in your country?

Via text? Maybe if you're an old person or someone without a smartphone, but that's a rarity in my experience. Most people just message on their smartphones using different apps, like WhatsApp, for example. Unless, again, we are counting using those to message as texting, but then if we are, that's pretty commonplace.

Hey, right Dear Listener! So, text messages. Rory, first of all, what are text messages, and what's going on?

I don't know what's happening with these questions, because my understanding of a text message is something that you send from your phone, like an SMS, which is not something that many people do in my country anymore. We have texting with the phone, and then we have messaging with apps like Facebook Messenger or WhatsApp. So, I see these as two distinct and different things, but it's possible that the examiner sees them as the same thing.

So, if I say text messaging, this means that I write a message on Telegram or WhatsApp, right?

Well, some people can see it this way. I don't. I see them as different things.

But what do you say? If you sent me a message on Telegram, what do you say?

Yeah, I messaged you on Telegram.

Okay, or I sent you a message on Telegram, or I just wrote to you on Telegram. So you don't use any like, I texted you, I wrote a text.

No, I rarely hear people talking about that. But is that just because I'm not talking about it with people? Or is it because there's a totally different thing that we use to talk about texting and sending messages now, because the technology is so different from what it used to be?

Yeah, people. So, when we talk about Telegram, WhatsApp, Viber, WeChat, or any other chat channels that you are using, local chat channels, so we say that I messaged you, or I sent you a message, or I wrote to you on Telegram, on WhatsApp. But, for example, certain businesses, certain companies could text you, not using any chat channels, they just send you a text, texting, okay? They send you an SMS. And perhaps some companies still do it. So if you don't have any Internet, for example, they can send you a text, an SMS. But these days, everybody is messaging on Telegram, WeChat. So you can answer these questions, talking about messages on Telegram, on different chat channels, okay?

That's why I used some hedging language here, and I said, unless you count using those apps as texting, in which case I'm doing it all the time. And it's good to use alternatives to if.

You can say that most of my messaging is handled by apps, which means that I message different people using different apps, like Telegram, WhatsApp, WeChat, and you can say that I never send any SMSs. Oh, a very interesting question, do you reply to messages as soon as you receive them? So you got a message on Telegram, and then kind of like, how fast should you answer, Rory?

Well, this is a personal choice. But I always think that I own my phone, and my phone does not own me. So I will answer when I'm good and ready. But some people think that you should answer immediately. And I can appreciate why they might think that, but I don't see any reason to. If it's an emergency or if it's seriously urgent, you do not text. You call someone and you make the urgency clear. What about you, Maria? Do you have a similar philosophy? Or are you a text demon?

You know, they say that if the message is about work, and you are selling something, for example, and clients write to you, you should answer within like 10 minutes. So the faster, the better. Because these days, people ask you something about your product, and then they expect an immediate answer, unfortunately. And yeah, so working messages, I try to answer right away. But not late at night, and sometimes not on the weekend. Like personal messages, if I can give a fast answer, I'll do it. But if it takes more time, more research, so I'll wait till I have time for it, and then I'll do it.

Some people have their notifications on at night, and I never understand why they would do that. That's crazy. How are you supposed to sleep?

Some people are afraid that emergencies can pop up at night, and they may be some relatives who could call them at night for help. And that's why they never switch it off. So yeah.

Well, that makes sense. But is that most people?

I don't know. My brother does it, because he feels that he needs to be available at night if I call him.

Is this a regular occurrence?

No, no, I think I called him once at night. Yeah, but that was an emergency. So, dear listener, we reply to messages, or we answer messages, or you respond to messages as fast as you can, or you can say that I switch off my notifications, or I switch off my alerts, or my message alerts are turned off, or switched off. Alerts is this ____. What alert do you have, Rory?

We should have sound effects. I don't have any sound effects on my phone. All I have is just a little notification that comes up on the screen and says “You have a text”. Or even better, it just doesn't come up at all, and I will only see it when I open the app. And that will be fine. No one will die because I did not answer my messages in a timely manner.

So you can say that if it's an emergency, or if it's an actual emergency, so somebody's in hospital, or somebody needs your help, something serious, right? So then I answer messages right away. And Rory, is it true that people prefer to message these days instead of just calling you?

This is the thing. I think that most people do that. Although entertainingly, about three months ago, someone who listens to our podcasts called me directly. And I was very surprised by that.

Yeah, because we're used to sending messages, reading messages, that's like, we hardly ever call each other.

I should say, please do not call me directly in my home. I will not be able to help you immediately if there's a problem with like a technical issue on the podcast.

So we send messages on Telegram, or on WeChat, on WhatsApp. And we use chat channels for sending messages. And when I was younger, I didn't have a smartphone, for example. Or when I was younger, all I did was send texts. So we would send an SMS without the internet, just, you know, these texts. No internet, no Telegram, no WhatsApp, you know, like 25 years ago.

Let's not speculate on how long it's been since I've sent a text message properly as a child.

So you can say that I had fewer alternatives. So fewer opportunities.

I really just wanted to use the word fewer there.

Or I sent fewer messages, or more messages, for example. When I was a teenager, I would send millions of texts every day. And then used to, like, I used to send SMS to my friends. We used to just send something like an SMS on our phones. But now it's different because we have like constant internet connection. So we use different chat channels. And here the question could be about sending messages. So it could mean using Telegram, WhatsApp, right? And then you can just ask a question like via text, like, do you mean texting or do you mean using chat channels? But again, dear listener, talk about chat channels, seriously. If you have such a topic about messages, you just say, I never send SMSs, I just use chat channels. And you are free to talk about sending messages via Facebook, Instagram and I don't know what platform you are using.

Something else that's more realistic.

Yeah, but sometimes like an old person without a smartphone, can send an SMS, right? Or if you have some grandparents without a smartphone.

Or in my case, my parents.

Oh, really? Your parents don't have any smartphones?

No, my mom has a smartphone. My dad communicates via text and it's the funniest thing ever. Yeah, he has a dumb phone. So it's just a set of keys on a keypad.

And you can say that that's a rarity. So that rarely happens, hardly ever.

Once in a blue moon.

Exactly. There you go.

But we won't say once in a blue moon.

Don't use this idiom. It's a cliche. Once in a blue moon. Oh, people send messages once in a blue moon. No.

I'm tempted to start doing that now.

That's a rarity. You know, that's a natural band nine. But not once in a blue moon. Because it's on the list of these idioms on this website, bob.com.ielts. So dear listener, how many messages do you send a day? On Telegram? WhatsApp?

How many? I mean, where would you find the statistics on that? Maybe on your phone?

Yeah, you can count, you know, yesterday, like…

A hundred thousand per human being. At least.

It's crazy.

It is wild.

Because like, hello. And then we send it like, how are you? And then we send it and then like, oh, I forgot. And then we send it. And it's like one sentence could be like five different messages. Rory, but what about in Scotland? Like, what do people usually use? Telegram? WhatsApp? Do you have your local Scottish line?

I think a lot of people just use WhatsApp, to be honest.

WhatsApp. All right. OK.

Or they message on Instagram.

Really? OK. You don't have this local stuff, like, for example, people in Thailand have their local messenger, as far as I know.

Well, no, but then large telecommunications and international companies have a stronger hold in the West, I would have said, compared to other countries. Let's not dwell on that too much. Hail Google.

Thank you very much for listening. And let's text Rory on Instagram, asking him how many messages he usually sends a day. OK? Go to Rory's Instagram and just attack him with all the messages, dear listener. Yeah. For classes, Rory, give me your band nine classes.

You can do that. But don't be surprised if it takes five days to get an answer. Bye! Make sure to subscribe to our social media to see some of the “behind the scenes” stuff: Our Instagram: bit.ly/instagramswi Our Telegram: bit.ly/telegramswi