There’s a saying that “the pictures are better on the radio”. I think there’s a lot of truth in this. You construct mental pictures of the radio presenters and other people you hear, and of the events and places they describe or evoke with sound effects. There are no actual pictures to distract you and your imagination can run wild. When you watch television or films, much less is left to your imagination.

I listen to the radio a lot, and the mental images I have of the people on the radio, based solely on their voices and names, are rarely a good match for what these people actually look like. I definitely prefer radio to television and haven’t had a telly since moving to Brighton about eight years ago. Some find this strange and wonder how I manage without a telly, but I don’t miss it, and on the rare occasions I do watch it, I rarely see programmes that make me want to rush out and buy a set. I do occasionally watch DVDs on my computer though, and like going to the cinema as well.

When I hear a radio play or see a film based on a book I’ve read, the way the characters look and talk is often different to the way I imagined them. If I hear the play or see the film before reading the book, my imagination is affected by what I’ve seen and heard in the play or film.

At work, my experience is similar to Terry’s and Polly’s, as mentioned in the comments on yesterday’s post - when I finally meet people I’ve talked to a lot on the phone, they often don’t resemble my mental image of them. It is almost as if they are one person on the phone, and another in the flesh.

When talking on the phone, do you behave in a different way to when you talk to someone face-to-face?