Texting in Spain

In regards to what we talked about today in class-texting as a intimate or non-intimate form of communication, texting money transfers, drop calls, and texting competitions, I went online and did some digging-but not on Digg. haha.

It is always fascinating to study how texting is reflective of other cultures and how culture can create a individualistic sub culture or universal sub culture. Technology arises differently in different regions. For example, laptops are predominant in Spain-Barcelona or Madrid, but cell phones are a second nature for Spaniards. Approximately 44 million people live in Spain, but in January of this year the number of cell phones in Spain reached 50 million. There are more phones than people! Relationships evolve differently reflecting upon the culture of that region just like the Spanish relationship with the cell phone that has evolved differently when compared to America, India, Japan, the Philippines, and other parts of the world.

Reading an interesting article on texting in Spain by Jennifer Woodward Maderazo (editor of PBS Media Shift and blogger and marketer covering latino cultures) revealed that the cell phone for Spain has become more than a technological object for communication but almost a character of its own in Spanish culture. (This fortells that my studying abroad in Spain next fall will def. require a cell phone) TV in Spanish culture also draws upon this fad, constantly commercializing SMS codes to get the latest Rihana rington or to get a popular reality show logo for your cell phone wallpaper. Maderazo points out that "in Spain this is what most people think of when you say 'mobile content'" and that mobile content has produced a huge money making business on accessorizing the cell phone by ordering games over SMS or "to be able to see your comment crawl across the TV screen when you've got something to say, moments after sending a text message to your favorite show". Compared to Americans, its hard to imagine that we would spend money on this kind of stuff but Spain leades the entire European region in buying this type of content. Maderazo also reports that recently studies have shown that "Spaniards will download over 17 million games for their cell phones this year over WAP or SMS." Wow! I can't even imagin buying a ringtone for my phone in this economy. But this reminds me of how some of us today don't feel complete or 'naked' without our cell phone always in hand. Another note, is if that Spaniards' SMS messages are much more evolved because of this new markt and demand. Maderazo explains that "if you ask someone to go out with you, and they might reply "NT1D" ("I don't have a cent"). You might tell them you'll pay and will meet them ">o<" (downtown). If they ask why you are so kind, answer "pqtqm" ("because I like you a lot")." Reminiscent of the telegraph? I think so! This is similar to our abbreviations of phrases or words we use in the English language, that to us implies certain meanings. For Spaniards this code has primarily developed in order for them to save money on their pre-paid cards by only having to send one instead of multiple messages. She points out that "along with the jargon in Spanish, it has developed in parallel (but to a lesser degree) with the other official languages of Spain, such as Catalan and Basque". Text messaging has also been doing this to the French. Oh how money influences us in every way! But so does everything else. What starts out as one thing in the beginning--developing a new lexicon of abbreiviations and codes to save money--transforms into something else, always changing.

Este muy interesante!

article can be found at:
http://www.pbs.org/mediashift/2008/06/spains-national-obsession-with-mobiles-texting165.html