Some people are so rude! Who sends an e-mail or a text message that just says "Thank you"? Who leaves a voice mail message rather than texts you? Who asks for a fact easily found on Google? Don't these people realize that they're wasting your time? Maybe I'm the rude one for not appreciating life's little politeness. But many social agreed standards just don't make sense to people drowning in digital communication. In texts, you don't have to declare who you are or even say hello; E-mail, too, is slower than a text; Voice mail is a now impolite way of trying to connect. My father learned this lesson after leaving me a dozen voice mail messages, none of which I listened to. _ , he called my sister to express his dissatisfaction that I never returned his phone calls. "Why are you leaving him voice mails?" my sister asked. "Just text him." In the age of the smartphone, there is no reason to ask once-acceptable questions about: the weather forecast, a business's phone number, or directions to a house, a restaurant, which can be easily found on Google Maps. But people still ask these things. And when you answer, they respond with a thank-you e-mail. How to handle these differing standards? Easy: Consider your audience. Some people, especially older ones, appreciate a thank-you message. Others, like me, want no reply. The anthropologist   Margaret Mead once said that in traditional societies, the young learn from the old. But in modern societies, the old can also learn from the young. Here's hoping that politeness never goes out of fashion but that time-wasting forms of communication do. Why didn't the writer reply to his father?
He didn't want to talk with his father. He liked text messages better. He didn't receive any voice mail messages. He enjoyed checking his voice mails.