I've been thinking a lot recently about communication and how it plays out in our society today. Between conversations about texting, monthly challenges to write letters, "virtual" meetings for school, phone calls, and just in person conversing, I've had a lot of thoughts.
How cool is it that before all this technology, people actually wrote letters to each other. In their own handwriting, through the postal service. Imagine how heartfelt those letters must of been and how easy it must have been to express yourself through the written word. But, once those people were in person, I'm sure the conversation came just as easy. They would have been delighted to be with their friends and talk to them face to face. Now, people use texting as a substitute for this. They avoid talking to people by just sending a quick (or very long) text to express their feelings. Why is it so hard to say things in person these days? Many feel like they are on the spot and that they can't think that fast to respond in a real conversation so texting is easier because they can respond whenever they want to or not at all. And it's easier to keep control of your emotions. How disappointing is that? We should be able to discuss things with those around us without people feeling pressured or unable to answer or offended.
I was talking to a friend and I said that texting has completely changed the dynamic of communication. He responded by saying the it hasn't changed communication, it's killed it. That just might be true. I can't tell you how many times in high school my dad would bring up the fact that we didn't know how to talk to people or wondered why we couldn't just call someone up on the phone. I actually prefer talking to people in person, but I guess just the way society has brought us up is to use every device to communicate except your mouth.
Then in one of my classes we had to meet in groups and my teacher said how it was completely acceptable to have a virtual meeting over skype or through email instead of physically getting together and going over the information. I was actually kind of shocked. What are we trying to do? Become completely anti-social and only capable of using technology?
How many times have we taken the "easy" route and just emailed a professor or TA instead of actually going to talk to them? Or instead of calling a friend to congratulate them or tell them important information, we immediately just send them a text. Sending emails, instead of writing letters. It's like we are actually avoiding coming in contact with a human being at all. What about when you're walking down the street, in a hallway, or in a store. Do we say hi when we make eye contact with someone or do we just look the other way and pretend it didn't happen?
To me, it sounds kind of ridiculous when you think about it and write it all down, but it's so normal in our every day life. What more can we do to make meaningful conversation with those around us and instead of avoiding the people, avoid the technology that we are bombarded by and in a sense "forced" to use on a daily basis?
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