"Hit me back at this number when you get the chance."
"Tweet it."
"Facebook me."
We live in an age of communication. Fast, faster, fastest, instant. Some systems are getting so good that I feel like they know what I'm going to say before I say it. They start to send before I hit the end. I see patients via high definition pictures and computer hookups. Kids send suicide notes to their boyfriends and parents via text message. Relationships break up by SMS. Revolutions (and dictatorial regimes) live and die by Internet access, making use of Twitter and other mass communication media. We are sending millions of messages in millions of bytes over the air and down the wires and under the ocean. We are sharing and messaging and pontificating and preaching and teaching and lecturing and cajoling by every means available to us in the world that is so connected that it is in danger of having no boundaries at all any more. I can be finishing my shift at midnight and saying good morning to a colleague around the world as he starts his day. In real time. We are talking and talking and talking.
But are we communicating?
My fear is that we are slowly but surely losing the intricacies of human communication that set us apart from every other creature. Where is the touch in an email? Where is the downward glance in an SMS message? Where is the salty taste of a single tear after a comforting kiss on Skype? Where is the vocal inflection in a hastily thumbed text message?
Where is the communication?
We are at risk of becoming a very real cross between the worlds of WALL*E and the Terminator.
We know how to do so much.
We are fast forgetting how to feel.
How do you communicate with others?
I am so guilty of this. If I call customer service and it isn't automated I get angry. I have a girlfriend that doesn't text or even turn on her cell. I have to call her home phone and it just makes me crazy. I say what I have to say on my blog and sometimes when someone asks me how I am doing I will say to them, "Haven't you read my blog?"
ReplyDeleteAlthough...I do talk to my dogs and horses...LOL
A lot of food for thought here. I will say though, that as overwhelming as all this technology can seem at times, it has opened up my world. I am living with metastatic cancer and have struggled with issues of isolation and loneliness. This technology has put me in touch with many wonderful people also dealing with similar illnesses and issues. It really is an amazing feeling to know that you can find support literally on-tap, 24 hours a day and seven days a week. The trick is knowing when to switch off when you need those quiet times for reflection and in-person human interaction.
ReplyDeleteSandy
ReplyDeleteOh, Sandy, you must come back to the world of humans, though dogs give much more unconditional love.
Greg
Anna,
ReplyDeleteYou are absolutely right. That is a wonderful use of technology that cancer sufferers of years ago had no option to employ.
Your last sentence is the key, though.
Balance in all things. So says my wife, an excellent philosopher.
:)
Greg