Missed calls and missed presences often bring in new messages. Oftentimes there exists little novelty in the messages in terms of content, but the eternal time-space dimension lovingly imparts it a new extension and packaging as far as the form of a message is concerned. As I write this, it does appear a bit surprising that content not withstanding, a form can make each message so distinct and different from all others lying in a continuum. Ah well....such is life's turns where, even as you realize that corners are indeed circular, that particular state of realization does not buttress the state of acceptance of the obvious, howsoever unbecoming.
For example, when people leave messages on phone, the possibilities of communication between the caller and the receiver could very well be served without necessarily leaving on messages.
I, for one, am very particular about leaving messages. And I insist to my close ones to leave messages when I'm not available to them. Most of these messages relate to caller's current states of mind, comprising of requests to call them back, relate an issue, or sometimes, even ranting. I've received 3 minute long messages from my friends who had to rant about their boss or supervisors...and I could fully understand the length: who doesn't like these cathartic actions?
But when you think about it, just letting it go at a missed call is as good as leaving a voice message. Quite obviously, it is more poignant, leaving much space for speculation and space of reasoning when one does not want to call back: a convenient arrangement for both the parties when things are not going good. Hmm.
But when things are going good, a missed call probably tugs more than a message.
With emails, it is even trickier. Some webmails do have options to track when your recipient open that email, and when did they actually start resuming to answer it. The power and prison surveillance talk of Foucault receives a whole new dimension here. This facility was adequately put to good use when I was doing my MA in University of Windsor, especially with faculty member emails. Yes, little brownies as puzzle-solving rewards are indeed offered by Grad School. Probably they do not tell you where the brownies are concealed, but once you find them, they are yours. And with that facility of actually locating the timing of opening and replying an email, timing gaps, calculation of typing speed and thinking ratio while replying an email, .....life and procrastination couldn't get any better.
The message part in this? That there's more to a message than just the content.
About freebie emails that do not have such service, but only the time tag, you do not get such above mentioned building blocks but.... random blocks. Inbox cries about that new message, you open it, decide to reply to it, edit it, delete it, save it in draft/or send it right away...and probably it makes less of a difference to your usual night's sleep if that message hadn't been sent. Exceptions to this could only lie when emailing to your occupational master (employer/supervisor/client) and your family (aunt/dad/mom/spouse).
Alternative to the above situation, you could still probably get a missed call. And you would still have the option of keep watching and thinking about "One missed call" and munching about whether to tell the full version of your side of story OR return the call and spread yourself tempo-spatially.
In the full circle long run, it seldom makes a difference, except in specifying and delineating the stops you've made so far. The stops probably tell a story, in terms of setting a pattern, but the story hardly matters in our cramped lives.
Still, newness and novelty, in form of messages, will always remain attractive. As much as this is so obvious, like many other things, Horatio, this is frustrating.
