The Death and Rebirth of Communication

I miss the days of being curled up on the couch, twirling the cord around my finger, and talking until the wee hours of the morning. And you know the conversations I'm talking about - the ones where you spend the first hour laughing and giggling and cracking pointless jokes, the second hour being slightly introspective as you decide to get a little deep, the third hour sitting in companionable silence. And this format applies to numerous conversations - significant other or friend. Oh, and how could I forget a sprinkling of gossip?

I decided to hand write this before I typed it up and posted it. So many aspects of the art of communication have died - the beauty of hand writing a letter, the joy of the phone ringing and a voice you wanna hear on the other end, the pleasure of saying to someone, "I'll see you tonight" and mean over dinner - in a restaurant - or maybe in the park - sans all PDAs, phones, iPods, etc.

I am guilty of stabbing communication once or twice. I am the queen of the email - I rarely let a text go unanswered if I'm available to answer it (and sometimes, I'll answer while simultaneously answering an email), I am a Twitter ADDICT (and not just for business), and I just downloaded pMessenger. (just one more way for the unreachable to reach me, right?) Hell, aren't I talking about this on the Internet?

The ability to communicate via fiber optic pathways has both progressed and crippled us as a society. I have friends who actually prefer to converse (not conversate) via text message because they are busy or whatever the case may be. But do you realize that it actually requires more effort to text someone back than to pick up the phone and call them? Not to mention, have you ever thought about just how much can be misinterpreted in a text message?

Think about it...when was the last time you actually "LOL" when you typed/texted it...and, unless you are part of the crack-tabulous antics coming from my Team Household Name, then you are never actually ROFLMAO. (Again, if you're in my crew, though...I'm pretty sure you have more than once.)

But seriously. I miss conversation. And, if you know anything about me, when I self-analyze, if I recognize that there is something that I am doing (or NOT doing) that will prevent me from being my best , I will work on fixing it. So I plan to wean myself slowly off of the communication grid. I miss going out with my friends - to museums and to festivals and to plays - and not just the club, where half the crowd is playing dress up, etc. I'm a self professed nerd who enjoys reading and learning, and I'm going to get back to doing that. I plan on not using my being busy with my business as a texting crutch. And I will be more present with my good friends - hopefully, the feeling will be mutual. =o)

What do you think about the levels of communication in today's society? What about in your own personal society of friends and associates? Would you be willing to take a no-text pledge? If so, for how long?

Posted in: calls, communication, conversation, death, friends, life, rebirth, self-analysis, text