Comment
Text message wishes are impersonal at best
By Meng Jing (China Daily)
Updated: 2010-01-06 08:54
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In a text message from an old friend of mine, who I've known for about 10 years, were the words: "Thanks for your support to my business over the last year and wish we can improve our cooperation in the new year." The only other parts of the message were his company's title and his name.
I initially got confused because I never did business with him. I already have his mobile number so it makes no big difference to me to get his company's name or his name again. But then I realized that the same message had been sent to all the people in his contact list.
I have to say this short message upset me. Though I understand he is a salesman and has to suck up to all his clients, especially on special occasions, I don't feel like I was treated as a friend.
With the rapid development of technology, sending wishes has become easier and easier. Using one finger and one button, you can finish the job of sending wishes to hundreds of people in one second. It's like the carbon copy function of e-mails but with a mobile phone at hand, even turning on a computer and logging in to an e-mail account seems time consuming.
My friend did still make an effort because he wrote the message himself, but some people choose to send second-hand wishes, including downloaded wishes from the Internet.
Every year, hundreds of similar messages rush to my mobile inbox. I know at first glance that most of them are second-hand wishes. Search for "short message wishes" on the Internet and you will find countless websites running this business, from top 10 new year short messages to breakup messages.
So if the public can download beautiful messages from the Internet, why bother to waste time and come up with something special and personal to the dearest and nearest? To show you care, perhaps?
