I now do Facebook, MySpace, a blog, and Twitter...and get an occasional text on my cell phone. Between these things and emailing and instant messaging...I hardly talk to anyone face to face anymore! I must say that I am not alone on all of this...even my 86 year old mother is on Facebook! (Of course, she can't seem to figure out exactly how to actually get back on it now that she has joined!)
What is happening with our face to face communication now that these other sources are so readily available? Does this mean that all of the old rules will be changing to keep up with the times? Will the art of conversation just be an old relic from long ago?
And, what about letter writing? I find that I hardly ever mail anything anymore as well. In fact, a few months ago, I bought a whole bunch of stamps...and, have hardly gone through a third of them. All of my bills are paid online. I keep my checkbook balanced online. I pay my taxes online. I read the news online. I check the weather online. I send birthday greetings via the Internet. My pottery business is online. I visit with my grandchildren online with Skype...etc. etc.
Is mail as we know it becoming obsolete? I must say that I truly miss receiving a hand-written letter...that was such a big part of my growing up. Receiving something in the mail was an occasion...and, many of these letters were saved in a shoe box to be read again and again. I still have some of the letters that my (now) ex wrote to me when we were first married and he was drafted into the Army. Emails just can't compare to that. I will say that, even with all of today's technology, I still insist on sending a thank you note via snail mail. It just seems to be a more personal and authentic way to express appreciation.
However, the upside to all of this is that I am connecting with more people now than was ever possible before.
Facebook has reunited me with some old friends and allowed me to make some new ones along the way. Old high school buddies...family members that I had gotten out of touch with...and local friends that I don't get to see often enough...these connections have all been a result of my Facebook experience. I am even getting to know some of my blog readers on a different level through this site as we have all slowly found each other.
I find myself delighting in viewing online photos and videos of friend's families and sharing in their joy. It is all about instant gratification! We are becoming a population with expectations of getting everything quickly...to the point of losing our patience when we have to wait on something!
Twitter is the newest group that I have joined. I haven't done many personal "tweets", as they are called...but, I have enjoyed reading the messages from a large group of people and organizations that I am "following" such as: Anderson Cooper, Tina Fey, David Gregory, American Idol (of course!), Time magazine, Ellen Degeneres, the New York Times....and, Barack Obama!
The rules of Twitter are that your message must be 140 characters or less. They figure that whatever one has to say can be said with this limitation. So, this popular site has allowed people all over the world to express what is on their mind or in the news...from the most mundane to the most important announcements. Basically, anything goes! You can find things out in real time by being on Twitter...sometimes before the rest of the world knows the info. Fascinating.
With all of this being said, I guess that I have mixed feelings about our new modes of communication...but, I realize that this is the way of the future...so, I might as well join in.
....got to run...someone is instant messaging me....
*sigh*
3 comments:
Not tweeting yet unless you call birdwatching tweeting. I am not sure how I feel about Facebook, but most of my old friends are not on it and I cannot bring the pages up fast enough...but I am hooked on blogging forever!
Good post!
Wow, you're a real hip Grammie! I do have facebook but I'm not sure I've got it figured out yet. Maybe your mom and I can take a course together.
Yes, no doubt paper mail is becoming obsolete. I am reminded of my first banking course in 1967 when the professor said checks would become obsolete and said,"Someday you will be able to walk up to a machine with a plastic check card and buy a pop with the card that will take the money right out of your checking account. Or you could actually get cash out of a machine with that card." We all sure had a good laugh on that fancy idea.
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