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Magazine Feature |
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Bending the e-Subculture's Will The latest
move from telecoms companies, a 67 percent cut on “free text,” awakens hatred
among the Generation Txt—a powerful e-mob that has already proven its mettle by
ousting a president. |
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Carlos Soliman deftly thumbs on his
mobile phone’s keys. It is 2 am. We are at a local coffeeshop, where other young
people are also chatting away the hours, their dressed-up phones sitting idly on their
glazed tables. Carlos sips iced latte from a metal mug, his eyes straining to read the
letters blinking on the LCD screen. Reading it, a grin slowly stretches across his puffed
face. Someone just told a joke. Carlos gleefully responds by keying the word
“lol.” The word
means “laugh out loud,” one of the many jargons incidentally created by those
who people Internet chatrooms a few years ago—either to save keystrokes or daunt the
uninitiated. When “texting” came of age, the jargons, further trimmed down,
where essentially ported into the new medium. And along with it is a new set of
imperatives that forced words into a warped existence: “later” became
“l8er,” “see you” became “c u.” We even routinely use the
umlaut, which we rarely legitimately use in our own language, whenever we intend to send a
smiley. Heck, we Filipinos have even invented the word “texting.” That is why
Carlos, like millions of Filipinos, is pissed when the telecoms giants suddenly announced
a 67 percent cut on free text messages in September. He likens it to a gag, a noose on
their necks, something evil and malicious. And because it is a simultaneous move from
practically all the companies that provide cellular-based communications—from Globe
to Smart, Piltel to Islacom—Carlos smells corporate conspiracy—like the way he
thinks of alien abductions, fake moon landings and the mystery of Erap’s
intellect. But of
course, he may be a bit overboard. Short Messaging Service, or “texting” to us
Filipinos, is just a value-added feature, and the telecoms assert that it’s their
right to cut these down; it’s not the main service, anyway. But the people’s
negative response, which is spreading like prairie fire on the Internet and chain text
messages, betrays the sensibilities of an otherwise tolerant majority—rub more salt
on the wound and it finally bares its fangs. Pinoy Sensibility
The
phenomenon, according to observers, is culture-based. Filipinos love to be with friends,
they love to chat, they tend to smile and laugh a lot (incidentally, the Finns—the
people who manufacture Nokia phones—are known to be perpetually withdrawn and stoic).
Apparently, “texting” feeds on our psychology—the sense of connectedness,
the sense of making people feel within reach of anyone, anytime, anywhere, is compelling.
On top of that, texting seemed to be affordable. According to
Digitel boss John Gokongwei, Filipino consumers are showing an increasing preference for
wireless communications. By the end of last year, mobile phone companies registered a
combined subscriber base of close to 6 million, with enthusiastic subscribers sending an
estimated 30 million text messages a day. In fact, some
marketing geniuses have begun to smell blood—they have begun cooking up business
models to profit from SMS-based marketing. Advertising firm Campaigns and Grey president
Yolanda Ong, for example, expects that “companies selling products or services to the
young would be the first to devise ways to use text messaging as part of their marketing
strategy, which would include companies selling clothes or cafes, restaurants and bars
that target the growing youth market.” Others, like Chikka (www.chikka.com), Smart
Communications’ ally, allow Internet-hooked computers and mobile phones to
communicate with each other through SMS. But the
matter is that the majority, the so-called Filipino masa, do not really indulge
themselves in all things technological. They didn’t ride it just because texting
meant being at the forefront of the new age. Mobile e-commerce? Nah, not yet time, and
only a few people trust it. WAP? Too expensive and slow, and WAPpers wade in the
marginalia. Blue Tooth? Meralco’s using the 2.4 Ghz bandwidth that Bluetooth
technology relies on, so it could not exist here. And after circling the Mobius strip, we
still end up with good old homey SMS. Caveat
And there, as
we slowly realize, is the rub. Part of the magic lies in the fact that texting seems to be
“free.” Credit it to brilliant marketing, but the phrase “texting is
cheap” has become an oxymoron. For people who heavily use it, at the present rate of
one peso per message, two hours of texting easily translates into something like P20 or
P30. This is because text exchanges are often in the form of a dialogue: as long as a
response to a textmate’s message is necessary, texting will go on. For most people,
the so-called “free text” allotment for subscribers somehow mitigates the cost. And now, the
67 percent cut on “free text.” And people have begun reacting as though their
oxygen supply is being cut off. “Yeah,”
Carlos confidently tells me, coming back from the bar with another mug of coffee.
“We’re launching another revolution. A friend is constructing a website to
denounce it.” I stare at
him and realize he is dead serious. Carlos is 22, a senior Mass Communications student at
a university in Manila. “Then
what happens?” I ask. Before he
could answer me, his cell phone sets off, his thumb quickly working on the keys, suddenly
oblivious to those around him. For the next few moments, he is completely absorbed in his
little affair. I suddenly felt an acute sense of the powerful, little understood dynamics
that had unseated the former president of this country. And realized we are truly a
strange people, after all.
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