Can You Have a Whole Relationship Through Texts?
Note to Self
WNYC Studios
4.7 • 2.7K Ratings
🗓️ 14 October 2015
⏱️ 26 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
We’re examining moments of closeness — when texting encourages intimacy between us, and when those messages really just create the illusion of deeper connection. Featuring Fusion's Kashmir Hill, author Sherry Turkle, and more.
Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | From WNYC, I'm EnuShZemroD, and this is Note2CEL. |
| 0:07.0 | You've never had an interesting text conversation that has been screen-shotted in since 10 |
| 0:11.0 | people. |
| 0:12.0 | I'm looking for an app that will lock down my social media and other distraction apps. |
| 0:18.0 | The tech show about being human. |
| 0:23.0 | Last month we had an episode with the man behind texts from your ex. |
| 0:27.0 | It's an Instagram account featuring screenshots of messages exchanged between former lovers. |
| 0:32.0 | Girlfriends and boyfriends, husbands and wives. |
| 0:35.0 | Some of them are crazy, some of them are cruel, some of them are just plain funny, and I had so much fun reading some of those messages out loud. |
| 0:43.0 | Get your f***ing olives out of my fridge! |
| 0:46.0 | Yeah, scroll back if you didn't listen to that one, you need to laugh. |
| 0:50.0 | Anyway, though, today we've got a somewhat more intimate look at how we use text messaging to connect, to feel understood, to feel loved, and we're going to start with a 30-something year old named Quentin. |
| 1:07.0 | I think I chose, loving being nerdy or something along those lines. |
| 1:13.0 | Quentin has cerebral palsy. |
| 1:15.0 | He gets around in an electric wheelchair. |
| 1:17.0 | He lives with his parents, helps out with the family business. |
| 1:20.0 | And, lovingly nerdy, is the personality that he chose for his invisible girlfriend. |
| 1:26.0 | Here's what he named her. |
| 1:28.0 | Margot Ross Spiegelman, because she is the female lead character in a book called Paper Towns. |
| 1:37.0 | Now, if you feel utterly confused about this, maybe you, like me, didn't pay any attention a few months ago to this online brew-haha over yet another startup, this one was called Invisible Girlfriend. |
| 1:50.0 | So, it's a service, right? For around $25 a month, you can exchange hundreds of texts with a fake online persona created by you. |
| 2:01.0 | So, you could be like, remember that time I saw you across the bar and we ended up having beer together? |
... |
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