Satire can be so subtle. That’s what I thought at first when I read Nick Bilton’s column on digital etiquette in The New York Times. When Mr. Bilton wrote, “Some people are so rude. Really, who sends an e-mail or text message that just says ‘Thank you’? Who leaves a voice mail message when you don’t answer, rather than texting you? Who asks for a fact easily found on Google? Don’t these people realize that they’re wasting your time?” I waited for my laugh cue. Surely the “you” whose time was being “wasted” by thank-yous and voice mails was being held up for mockery. Right? Here I am, Mr. Bilton. Ready to get the joke.
But the laugh moment never arrived. Not even when Bilton went on about the difficulty of accessing voice mail. Not even when he wrote—in what I was sure was a send-up of some tech-snotty persona—
My father learned this lesson last year…