Editing 2093: Reminders

Jump to: navigation, search

Warning: You are not logged in. Your IP address will be publicly visible if you make any edits. If you log in or create an account, your edits will be attributed to your username, along with other benefits.

The edit can be undone. Please check the comparison below to verify that this is what you want to do, and then save the changes below to finish undoing the edit.
Latest revision Your text
Line 8: Line 8:
  
 
==Explanation==
 
==Explanation==
 +
{{incomplete|Created by a BOT. Please mention here why this explanation isn't complete. Do NOT delete this tag too soon.}}
  
−
In this comic, Cueball is using an {{w|email client}} program on a laptop, which is a popular tool for communicating by email with others.
+
In this comic, Cueball is using an email client program on a laptop, which is a common way to read and write emails from/to other people.  Advanced email client software frequently provides reminders of various kinds to aid the user, and in this case we see a series of reminder alerts with Cueball's response to each one.  The final reminder results in the realization by Cueball that he's not very conscientious about what's going in other people's lives, and he expresses this in the text below the image.
  
−
In recent years, many email clients have started implementing helpful warnings and reminders to catch common human mistakes and ease the process of communication. One such feature, demonstrated in this comic, is that many clients will now warn you if you've mentioned an {{w|Email attachment|attachment}} in your email but haven't actually attached anything, a common error people make when emailing.
+
While the comic shows this series of interactions with Cueball, we could interpret this as being how Randall feels about his own lack of attention to the people in his own life.
  
−
This has gotten to the point where email clients are increasingly stepping in to help with social obligations too; for example, reminding you if [https://gsuiteupdates.googleblog.com/2018/05/gmail-remind-respond.html you've left an email unanswered] for too long, or that someone is celebrating a birthday today and should be congratulated. With the increasing availability of social data and advances in machine learning, these features have the potential to become very sophisticated, to the point that they can effortlessly make social inferences and connections that might have slipped a human user's mind.
+
The title text points out that if you have too many work and friend relationships to effectively keep up with all of the details in their lives, eventually the number of friends and coworkers will be reduced to the point where you can keep up. Alternatively, your level of commitment could rise to match the amount of relationships you need to keep up with.
  
−
Such features are meant to be helpful aids, but have led people to be worried about privacy issues, or about how "smart" technology is becoming. However, in this comic, Cueball (likely representing Randall himself) has come to the uncomfortable realization that technology is now easily surpassing his own ability to maintain social relationships with other people, by being more aware of his friends' social lives than he is. He is disturbed by how unwittingly unconscientious he has become.
+
==Transcript==
 +
{{incomplete transcript|Do NOT delete this tag too soon.}}
  
−
The title text suggests that the problem of keeping up a baseline level of interest in other people's lives eventually solves itself; implying, somewhat darkly, that if you don't put in even the bare minimum effort to keep up, you'll end up with fewer friends as some get annoyed by your lack of interest in their lives.
+
:[Cueball using a laptop]
−
 
 
−
==Transcript==
 
−
:[Cueball at his desk using a laptop.]
 
 
:Laptop: You got this email six days ago. Do you want to follow up?
 
:Laptop: You got this email six days ago. Do you want to follow up?
 
:Cueball: Oh, right, I should do that.
 
:Cueball: Oh, right, I should do that.
−
:[Cueball types on laptop.] *type type*
+
:<nowiki>*type type*</nowiki>
 
:Laptop: Did you forget the attachment?
 
:Laptop: Did you forget the attachment?
 
:Cueball: Oops, yes.
 
:Cueball: Oops, yes.

Please note that all contributions to explain xkcd may be edited, altered, or removed by other contributors. If you do not want your writing to be edited mercilessly, then do not submit it here.
You are also promising us that you wrote this yourself, or copied it from a public domain or similar free resource (see explain xkcd:Copyrights for details). Do not submit copyrighted work without permission!

To protect the wiki against automated edit spam, we kindly ask you to solve the following CAPTCHA:

Cancel | Editing help (opens in new window)

Templates used on this page:

Retrieved from "https://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/index.php/2093:_Reminders"