Parmandur
Book-Friend, he/him
Also, Tenet was basically a surrealist deconstruction of a Bond film.
Amazon takes over Bond franchise
- Thread starter Morrus
- Start date
Ruin Explorer
Legend
This is such a sad take imho.
Like, you know (and I'm sure I could find) someone in the 1960s was thinking "I should set this in the 1890s before cars and telephones ruined all the good plots!", and some bro in the 1890s was thinking "I should set this in the 1700s before that blasted telegraph and steam trains ruined all the good plots!".
Like, if you're in your 60s or 70s, maybe, and you can't really "think modern", or imagine how a situation could play out with computers and mobile phones properly, like you're going to leave holes in the plot because of them, then I can see you needing to set things in an earlier era because of that. Fair play in that case. But if you're under 50, and you can't figure out how to write good plots with those things existing, and even to utilize them, then that's a bit silly and imho sad/disappointing. Mobile phones came in when I was a teenager, the internet came in when I was a teenager. I'm 46, man, I had a mobile phone (a crappy one but one) and was using the internet when I was 16 (possibly 17 for the mobile). That's 30 years ago.
I do kind of get this for TTRPGs, because that's because you don't control over the plot, and players are incredibly resourceful. But when you have full control over the plot, you can fully account for mobile phones and computers and the internet! Plenty of modern spy shows and thrillers do - just look at Netflix or Prime - Black Doves, The Night Agent, The Diplomat, The Agency, Reacher, etc. etc.
Hell, some of them even rely on such tech and are better, cleverer shows because of it, like The Capture (which doesn't always get it 100% right but like, good enough man).
Ironically I think the actual one thing that gives some writers (but not others!) real problems, especially ones in their 50s and older isn't mobile phones per se, nor computers, nor smartphones, it's text messages, a tech that's been in common use since the 1990s, and that they definitely use themselves. So many writers rely on this crutch of people not picking up their phones, but like, who the hell phones someone? Boomer-ass behaviour! That's such a weird thing to do most of the time, unless you're going for a long conversation with someone (even then you'd videocall a lot of the time, we do live in the future after all, that's one bit of futuretech we actually got!). You send a text message. Even if you want to warn someone, if they don't pick up, you send a text message. It takes a fraction of a second to read a short text message, too, literally less time than it would to pick up the phone and be told the same thing (and anyone under about 50 can probably type it extremely fast too).
People who are working.
trappedslider
Legend
people who prefer audio cues since text gives no tone when sending or receiving
Ruin Explorer
Legend
I dunno man, I use Teams if I'm going to use voice at work, and I pretty much always text first. The only time I've made an actual phonecall for work in the last few years has been to tech support.
I'm not sure what this means.
With modern text-based messaging services you can see if your message was received/seen by the checkmarks. Is it a visual impairment issue I'm missing? Because I could see that.
Tell me you work at a desk without telling me you work at a desk.
trappedslider
Legend
Tone of voice refers to the elements of language that communicate identity, mood, and personality.
Ruin Explorer
Legend
Fair but in my previous role I didn't, most of the time, and I also didn't make phonecalls, unless, ironically, I was at my desk (we didn't have Teams back then)! I did text and email people I worked with all the time thought (from my BlackBerry!).
Obviously jobs will vary, but if it's vital that someone gets a piece of information like a code or a brief warning, you text it to them because that's more reliable than voice. Maybe you text/email then phone to highlight that you've sent the info, or maybe you phone and if they don't pick up, you text, but what you don't do is what a lot of writers have characters do, which is phone, and when it fails to go through, just give up.
You know you don't have to argue with everything anybody says, right? It's gotta be hard work.
Of all the many tradespeople I know, from landscapers to plumbers to broadband installers, they're on the phone constantly. The estate agents I dealt with when buying our current house, my dentist when calling about my new crown last year, the vet who called about my dog's torn ligament, even taxi drivers taking calls while I'm in the back of the cab*... the list goes on. People who are working make phone calls.
*Ah yes, and of course that other group--people who are driving. Or, hey, piloting an experimental one-man submarine or something.
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