Free Lunch, Make Your Own
From: Optus MSG
To get a free ringtone, call 966 and select 9 after the greeting. Call costs 30c/30secs, download charges apply, expires 31/05/07. Call 1300720084 to un-sub.
Hmmm.
Well it’s not really ‘free’ is it? There are several things I object to here:
Getting the message in the first place
I never signed up for these messages. I didn’t check a box (I’m always paranoid about that since my hotmail account got so bogged down in spam it just wasn’t feasible to maintain); I didn’t send of a text message saying “I’m a sap, please send me lots of junk mail with the word ‘free’ in it”; and I sure as hell didn’t send off a text message asking for this junk mail.
It ain’t free!
Okay, sure the actual ringtone probably doesn’t cost anything, but how much does the whole process cost?! I reckon about 1 minute (at the least) going through all the options and hearing the alternatives; and a ringtone weighs in at about 200KB (or thereabouts). This adds up to about $3.30. Now is that really ‘free’?! Not to mention they probably lock you into a subscription or something so that they deliver one to your inbox every week and just charge you for it. That’ll learn you for not reading the Terms and Conditions!
Wastage
As a prolific texter (a habit from my younger days) I appreciate a person who can write a good text message. Using all 160 characters to full effect, conveying the maximum amount of information in the smallest space possible. Isn’t that the point of text messaging? There are several guidelines for this, but my service provider has strayed here. They used a space after a full-stop; they ended the message with a full-stop; and the only word they have bothered to shorten is subscribe!
Hmmm
April 26th, 2007 at 10:34 pm
Hmm indeed… I love the truly free stuff… Like bar-mats, dux-de-lux glasses, corporate gifts and coffee machines…
April 26th, 2007 at 10:53 pm
Even if the corporate gifts are golf towels?
It’s true though, truly free stuff is awesome, and is the lifeblood of students everywhere.
April 27th, 2007 at 1:31 pm
Hold the phone their Regis,
There are a couple of presumptions that you have made that are ultimately flawed. And yes this will be a hefty read, but no one here really writes anything of substance in the form of rebuttal… normally just “yeah, your funny will” unless it’s Hugo, Michael or myself.
;) ) and actions have consequences, maybe they don’t affect you, but they do damage someone.
Firstly, SMS has seemed to have destroyed society and it’s ability to communicate with each other on a reasonable level. The ability to write whatever you want in 160 characters or more (if you want to pay for it) gives the sender the ability to hide behind a non-personal façade. Recent events, et la the recent myspace and online chat suicides have really brought the attention to the extreme personalities that people can presume whilst under the guise of a machine interface. Sure, I realise that yes I am logged on to your website of have your mobile number so I know who you are, but does that really dictate my dealings with you when I no longer have to see you face to face. Does it mean I can be more extreme about my view points when I know I don’t have to confront you in a way that can make me feel guilty. Or for the fact happy. Thus, I am of a firm stance that the introduction of SMS and blogs has done nothing more than dilute the importance of communication.
Second, everyone these days has a myspace, or similar, account. Thus, there seems to be an explosion of people who believe that their opinion must carry influence into the world. And how bitterly disappointed most are when they find out just how large the world is, you see I don’t care if your favourite band thinks the best way to get over your nasty ex is to dress in your sisters jeans, die your hair black and dice your wrists cause nobody care much for you in whingy off tone soprano. Unfortunately, even for me right now, there will be about 3 people who actually bother to read this to the end of it’s argument and hence believe I am full of drivel, I know I’m making a fundamental paradox in this argument but it needs to be said.
This brings me to the next point. The youth of today are of the belief that they are owed for the pleasure of them gracing this earth. Everything is to be taken for granted and no one has your respect until it’s earned. Swear in public, knock over people trying to get out of a doorway so you can get in first, not getting up out of a seat for the elderly on transport, stealing, talking back, tag everything, do anything you believe necessary because the world owes you. WAKE UP… it doesn’t. Respect is earned after being given, nowhere in society are you free to do as you please (otherwise their would be no pants for Dave
Combine these three arguments and you get a society that is both uneducated and unwilling to develop character. There is very little self-esteem built through achievement, nor through respecting society. There is no identity developed, because the only opinion you can gain is through listening to every side if the argument rather than shouting out everything you think is right.
Thus, SMS and its abbreviations are a degradation to society and have cost society in general so very much. If you were to go back 50 years and ask someone if they were “4 cerius” or “serial” they would probably walk away. Now the youth have a language to butcher and destroy in the name of a few cents that has deprived them a way to properly convey an argument that has definition and substance, with a weapon that nullifies their responsibility to be accountable for their actions and the ultimate attitude that everything is owed to them.
So brand Optus fools for their attempt to communicate to a majority of people in society today whom would rather be treated with dignity. I know I prefer it.
Dave
P.S. As for the, hey I thought it was for free thing, wake up, nothing has ever been for free.